Valentine's Rose
by Midnight Rain 87
Summary: This is a Vincentxoc story. The prologue really is the discription, so read that. Rating for violence, swearing, and mature content.
1. Epilogue

_Hey everyone, here is my next story. I have had this one in my head for quite some time and now that my Sephiroth story is done, I feel free to go ahead and start posting this one. I'm sorry I didn't start posting yesterday like I wanted, but I was frustrated from customers at work yesterday and I didn't want to start writing in that frame of mind. Anyway, I hope you like this next story. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Prologue

Planet Earth had known about the story of Final Fantasy 7 for years. Since 1997 to be exact. What they didn't know was that it was based on a true story, for the most part. Square Soft, now changed to Square Enix had brought this story to us through a game. Planet Gaia had, had the knowledge of space travel for years, nobody knowing about it.

That was how Vincent Valentine had come to Earth. He and the rest of AVALANCHE had heard of Square Enix going to this planet, how else had they known about the story of Final Fantasy 7? They knew each other to a certain point. Vincent Valentine had been wanting to go to Earth for some time to see how similar it was to his planet and requested to go with Square Enix the next trip there.

If he only knew about the love and adventure he would have just by going for a visit…

_A/N: So, what do you think about this so far? I got this idea…I actually don't know how I had gotten this idea to be honest. It just came to me and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I think I may have been watching the Scyfi channel or something. This is just a 'what if' kind of story and I hope you enjoy this. Please leave your comments and reviews. They are really appreciated._


	2. Exploring

_Here is the first chapter. I might as well make a note here. From past experience in my last stories, I will no longer make my lemon scenes separate chapters, it's just too difficult to do that. I will put it in italics so those of you who wish to not read it can simply skip past it and there will be a warning before the chapter. Okay, now here is the first chapter. It starts in Illinois, but it will eventually get back to his planet. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 1 Exploring

'This planet really isn't that much different from home.' Vincent thought to himself as he drove through the city of Bloomington Normal. 'The only differences being there are no monsters, no Jenova cells, and the technology is not as great as ours. There are planes, but no airships.' He sighed as he pulled into the turning lane to the apartment he was living at until he would return home, which wouldn't be for a few months at least.

He unlocked his door and entered the apartment. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't exactly small either. It was a nice size, but it also was comfortable. Vincent removed the boots that looked normal for this planet, and left them next to the door. He sighed again as he stretched out on the couch and closed his eyes, hoping to take a small nap.

'_**Could you have possibly chosen the most boring place to visit while living on this planet?**_'

Vincent opened his eyes to the voice of Chaos in his head. Sleep would be out of the question for now. He sighed again as he got up and went to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and proceeded to drink the contents.

'_**Hey, don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!**_'

'Live with it.' Was the answer Vincent gave him before returning to the living room.

'_**Don't give me that kind of tone. And you didn't answer my question.**_'

'It was the state that looked interesting to me.' Vincent replied. 'Now, will you drop it?'

'_**It's to flat. There's no scenery to this place.**_' Chaos continued to complain.

Vincent didn't answer. Instead he put the half finished water bottle on the coffee table and stretched back out on the couch. He was tired, but he didn't know why. He had been sleeping pretty well, even though he wasn't on his home planet at the moment.

'_**You're bored, that's why.**_' Chaos said. '_**Why don't you go sightseeing or exploring instead of just to the store and back?**_'

'There's no reason to.' Vincent replied.

'_**It's not like you have anything better to do anyway.**_'

Vincent couldn't argue with that. He really hadn't done anything since he got there. He didn't have to work since Square Enix had set him up with a place and was paying the rent until he was able to leave. They were also supplying him with cash to buy the essentials that he would need while he was there. They also were supplying him with cash if there was anything that he wanted, but he couldn't move out of the state he had chosen to stay in. That was the only stipulation while he was staying at this planet.

'_**You're thinking about it.**_'

'Maybe tomorrow.' He answered as he picked up a magazine sitting on the coffee table.

'_**You're no fun.**_' Was Chaos's reply.

The next afternoon Vincent had dressed in black jeans and a dark blue long sleeved button up shirt. He put on gloves like he usually did before going out while he was here. He put on his new boots before heading out the door.

'_**Jeez, you're dressed like you're going on a date or something.**_**'**

Vincent decided not to reply to that comment. He headed to his car and drove away from the apartment building. After about an hour of just driving, not really seeing anything that was interesting to see, he was ready to head back to his apartment.

'_**Not yet. You don't know how interesting a place is unless you actually go inside and explore.**_'

Vincent sighed as he drove down Veterans Parkway, still not seeing anything that was interesting. He was slightly disappointed and was ready to head back.

'_**Best Buy? What the hell is that?**_'

'I'm not interested in looking there.' Vincent replied.

'_**I'll keep bugging you about it until you go in there and look.**_' Chaos threatened. '_**You need to explore which is why we went out today, right?**_'

Vincent sighed as he turned into the turning lane to get to the place. If it was the only way to get the demon to shut up, he gladly would go in and look around a bit. He parked the car and headed towards the store. Once he entered, it became evident what this place was. It was an electronic store.

'_**This is cool.**_'

Vincent knew Chaos wouldn't let him be if he didn't have a good look around. He started at the music section but he didn't spend much time there since he didn't know the music of this place and wouldn't stay long enough to find out what he liked. He moved onto the movies but also didn't spend too much time there either. He moved onto the televisions. He was about to move from there when he heard people talking on the other side.

"Hey Rose, I finally did it. I finally beat Final Fantasy 7." Said what sounded like a young man.

"Yeah? How did you like it?" said, what he assumed to be Rose.

"Yeah, it's a pretty good game. It took me forever to beat the second boss." The man said.

"That's safer Sephiroth. Did you get the side characters?" she asked.

"Yeah, I found them where you told me I would. Yuffie was energetic, but did she really have to steal my materia like that? It was annoying." He answered.

Rose laughed at him. "That's Yuffie for you."

"Vincent I felt like was a waste of space. He hardly talked at all and he seemed underdeveloped." He said.

Vincent was taken a little aback by his statement.

"Did you include him in your party?" she asked.

"Uh, no…"

"Did you ever attempt to talk to him when you got the airship?" she asked.

'Ummm…"

"I'll take that as a no." she said. "You can't wait around for him to talk, you need to make the effort. Walk up and talk to him. Little by little he'll come out of his shell and he'll talk to you. You have to talk to him first though."

'_**Wow, she really likes this game. I wonder who she's talking about. Oh right, that's you.**_' Chaos taunted.

"Well I didn't know. Come on Rose, don't be like that." The man said as what sounded like a cart was being pushed.

"You just talked down on one of my favorite characters. I have nothing to say to you." She teased.

The wheels of the cart became louder as it came around the corner of the stack. A young woman of about five foot four was pushing it. She was wearing black jeans with a blue polo shirt that had the Best Buy logo stitched onto it. She was also wearing a name tag, but Vincent couldn't read it. He took in her form. She had golden blonde hair and had an hour glass figure. She wasn't gifted like Tifa was, but she was still aesthetically pleasing. She noticed him and walked up to him.

"Hello sir, can I help you find anything?" she asked.

"No thank you, I'm just looking right now." He answered. He took that opportunity to look at her nametag. It read Rose. He also took the opportunity to look at her eyes. They were brown, but it didn't clash with her hair. They actually complimented each other.

"I like your contacts."

"What?" he asked coming out of his thoughts.

'_**The key here is to listen Valentine.**_'

Rose giggled a little before repeating herself. "Your contacts, I like them. Where did you get them?"

"Uh, Halloween store last year." He answered.

'_**Quick thinking.**_'

"Well, let me know when you find something you like Mr…"

'_**Think quick!**_' Chaos taunted.

"Valence. Victor Valence." He answered, ignoring the snickering from the demon in his mind.

Rose smiled. "Mr. Valence. Just give me a holler if you need anything." She turned and started taking accessories from the cart and adding them to the stacks behind them. Vincent took that moment to leave the store.

'He was cute.' Rose thought as she continued to stock the shelves. 'To bad I won't be able to be with a guy like that.'

'_**Victor Valence?**_' Chaos snickered as Vincent headed towards the car.

'Give me a break will you?' he asked as he unlocked it. 'It was the first one that came to my mind.'

'_**But Victor?**_'

Vincent ignored him as he made his way back towards his apartment. He took off his boots by the door like he always did and sat down at the couch and turned on the TV. He couldn't concentrate on any of the shows though.

'_**Are we thinking about her?**_'

Vincent didn't answer as he continued to blindly watch the TV. Chaos didn't make it any easier.

'_**Come on, she was cute was she not?**_'

Vincent had to give the demon credit for that. She was pretty. It was the first time in…years that he had any thoughts like this, about anybody.

'_**You have to go back and see her again.**_'

'I don't have a reason to go back.' He replied.

'_**Yes you will.**_'

Vincent didn't ask how Chaos knew this, but he did have a feeling that he would come up with a valid excuse to make Vincent go back to that store.

_A/N: What do you think so far? The bold italics is Chaos talking to Vincent, just to clarify. I'm not calling anyone stupid, I swear! I am trying to write longer chapters and hopefully they will get longer as the story goes. The supernatural part of the story won't be for a while yet though. Please leave your reviews and tell me what you think._


	3. Back to Best Buy and Back Again

_Hey you guys I'm back. I know I haven't updated in a couple of days, but I had a little bit of a writer's block and I think I have it figured out now. I've also been working on my other story with my friend. So here is the next chapter, enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 2 Back to Best Buy and Back Again

The next few days were uneventful for Vincent. He didn't watch TV and he didn't get on the computer that had been provided for him. He mostly just hung around his apartment, not having left it since the day he had entered that electronics store.

'_**You should go back there and talk to her.**_'

Chaos hadn't let that subject go since the day they went there. It was getting rather annoying.

'I have no reason to go back there.' He replied as he opened the sliding door to the balcony. He didn't go out, just simply leaned in the doorway.

'_**Nothing like fresh pollution in the morning, huh?**_'

Vincent closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The demon inside his head was really starting to annoy him. 'Must you always ruin a good moment, and mood?'

'_**If it will get you back to that store and talk to that girl. What was her name again? Oh yeah, Rose.**_'

'I told you, I have no reason to go back there.' He replied as he closed the door to the balcony and walked into this living room.

'_**I can give you a reason if you want.**_'

'No thank you.' Vincent said as he turned on the TV. It had not been on one minute when, peeuuum and the screen went black. He just sat there, stunned.

'_**There you go. Now you have a reason to go back there.**_'

"What the hell did you do?" Vincent asked, not bothering to think that question.

'_**I just blew the insides all to hell, and they aren't coming back.**_' He answered.

Had Vincent known how anything about this kind of technology he probably would have tried to fix that TV, but the point was he didn't. Now he had to seriously consider going back to that store and risk seeing that girl again. He sighed as he pulled on his boots and started out the door.

'_**I knew you would see my reasoning.**_'

'I hate you.' Vincent replied as he made his way out of the building.

'_**And the feeling is mutual. Now hurry up.**_'

Vincent hadn't really explored this town enough to know where stores were. If he had he would have avoided that store Best Buy and bought a TV elsewhere. He sighed as he pulled into the parking lot. 'She may not even be working today.' He thought to himself. He couldn't help the fact that Chaos had heard it.

'_**You might be surprised. She could be working.**_'

He was surprised that he found himself wanting to see her again as he walked through the doors. He didn't waste time, he went straight for where the TVs were and some kind of movie was playing to show off the different types of pictures the TVs could produce.

'_**Well, which one are you going to choose?**_'

Vincent didn't answer as he continued to look. There were so many different TVs to choose from. There were ones with wide screens, ones with high definition, ones for making movie watching better, the list went on. He turned when he noticed someone was approaching him.

"Hello, Mr. Valence, right?"

Vincent stood there for a moment, stunned that it was the same girl from the other day. He realized he was staring and snapped out of it. "You have a good memory…Rose, right?"

'_**That's right. Make small talk.**_'

"Your memory is not so bad either." She smiled. "Is there anything I can help you find today?"

"Yes actually. I'm at a loss as to which TV I should buy." He answered.

"Well, that really depends on what kind of a person you are. Are you more of a show watcher or movie watcher?" she asked. "Or are you possibly a game player?"

"It really depends on the day." He answered.

"Ah, I see. I'm the same way." She gestured toward a TV that wasn't too far from where they were standing. "I would recommend this one. It has high definition so the picture is great for what you are doing that day. It also has a DVD player built into it so you don't have to worry about having to get that."

"The screen is a little on the large size isn't it?"

"If you get to small of a screen the picture won't that great. Trust me, you want to go with this size." She answered.

Vincent stole a glance at the price. It didn't seem that unreasonable. "Alright, I'll go with this one."

"Great. I'll go grab you a cart and then you can check out." She said with a smile. "I'll be right back."

Vincent watched as she walked away and disappeared behind the stack.

'_**Someone's taking a liking to her.**_'

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Vincent replied as he turned back to the TVs.

'_**Hey, I'm not blaming you. She's pretty cute.**_'

'I'm not getting into a relationship. It wouldn't be worth it for the short time that I'm here.'

'_**You could always take her with you.**_'

'Square Enix would not allow that as an option. And I don't think everyone back home would approve of it either.'

'_**Who cares about what they think?**_'

'I do, now shut it.'

"Are you alright?" Rose asked as she returned with a cart.

"Yes, thank you. I was just…thinking." He answered.

She nodded as she turned to the shelf and proceeded to pick up the box that contained the right TV. "I got it." She said when Vincent moved to help her. She placed it in the cart so it wouldn't tip. She had some strength for a small person. "You're not from around here, are you?"

Vincent blinked in surprise at the sudden question. "No, I actually moved here not too long ago."

She nodded. "I see. Was there anything else I could help you find here?"

'_**Yeah, her number.**_'

"If I may ask, how is it that you knew I wasn't from around here?"

'_**That wasn't what you were supposed to ask her.**_'

Vincent ignored him.

She shrugged. "I don't know, you seem to have an air about you. I've always had to ability to see that people aren't from a certain place. Weird, huh?"

"No, not really." Considering where he was from, it wasn't strange at all.

"Was there anything else I could help you find?"

'_**Ask for her number!**_'

"No, I think this is it for me today." He answered, completely ignoring Chaos when he began to protest.

"Okay then. Have a good day Mr. Valence." She said before walking away.

'He reminds me so much of…Vincent Valentine.' She shook her head to get rid of that thought. 'Stop it Rose! Vincent Valentine and the rest of Final Fantasy Seven does not exist and you know it.'

Rose's face became more solemn as she got closer to home. She really didn't want to go there. Things just went from bad to worse and when she thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. She entered the house, careful to shut the door quietly, lest she get yelled at. She walked into the kitchen from the backdoor and walked to the fridge to start preparing dinner.

"Hey!"

She sighed as she shut the fridge door and walked to the living room to see what her step-father wanted. "Yes?" she asked, stopping in the doorway.

"Isn't it about time you got yourself a boyfriend again?" he asked from the couch he was lounging on.

"Yes, I'm working on it now." She answered.

"You know the drill by now girl. You better get on it by the end of the week." He growled, turning back to the TV.

"Yes sir." She replied bowing her head. She turned and went back to the kitchen. Every few months this process started. Get a boyfriend, break up, wait a few months and start over again. It was tiring.

'I wish you were still here mom. It wasn't fair that you were killed.' Rose thought to herself as she set about to make dinner. 'Will this nightmare ever end?'

'Can I really call this a coincidence anymore?' Rose thought to herself as she saw that Valence guy in the computer section. He appeared to be holding an adapter as he browsed through that section. It had been a few days since she had that conversation with her step-father and she was running out of time. She had been able to stay away from his bad side and she wanted it to stay that way.

She put on her smile and walked up to him. "Back already?"

Vincent stopped what he was doing and looked over at Rose, a little stunned that he was seeing her again so soon. "It seems so. I'm not having much luck with my electronics right now."

She looked at the adapter. "What kind are you looking for?"

Vincent also looked at the adapter in his hand. "I really don't know."

"Here, let me see." She said reaching for it. She looked at the back to find what out what kind of computer it was for and the model number. "Are you sure you're not just breaking stuff on purpose just to see me?" she teased as she looked through the shelves.

'_**Oh the irony of that question.**_'

Vincent ignored him. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, this is the third time you've been in here while I was working." She said as she found the right adapter and handed it to him.

"It's just a coincidence." Vincent said, but he wasn't so sure anymore. Every time he came in here because of Chaos, she had been working.

"So, have you seen much of the town at all since you moved here?" she asked.

"No. I really haven't found any place that was interesting." He admitted.

She smiled. "You just don't know where to go. Do you know of the Steak'n'Shake just down the street from here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I've seen that place a couple of times."

"I'm off tomorrow night. We could meet there, have dinner and then we could go out and have some fun if you want." She said. "That is if you don't have any plans or work."

"Why? You don't even know me."

She took a moment to think before answering. "Well, I know what it's like to start over somewhere new and sometimes you just need to be kind to the new person and try to make friends."

'_**Your given a good chance here Valentine. Don't blow it.**_' Chaos warned.

Vincent mentally sighed. She seemed like a nice girl and he figured it couldn't hurt to make a friend or two while he was there. "What time should we meet?"

_A/N: Yay, this chapter is finally completed! It won't be for a while till you find out what's going on with Rose. Again, I'm so sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter up. My friend and I have been really going on our story that we're working on. She was busy today, so I had the chance to work on this. I have a good idea on how the next chapter should go, so I may be able to get it up before my friend gets back. I will try to update more often. Please leave your reviews._


	4. The Date

_Okay, here is the next chapter. I hope things stay interesting for you. I'm not going to waste time babbling so here's the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them. I also don't own Grady's Family Fun Park or Steak'n'Shake._

Chapter 3 The Date

It was six fifty now as Rose sat in a booth in the back of the restaurant. She had been waiting for twenty minutes on Victor, keeping an eye on the entrance for him. She had dressed up nicely. A white tank under a soft pink shirt with a nice pair of jeans and sandals.

She sighed. 'Maybe he had a change of heart. We really don't know each other, but that was the point of this in the first place. To get to know each other.' She thought to herself.

She took another drink of her Coke, not bothering to keep an eye on the door anymore. Maybe he really had stood her up. She was seriously contemplating on paying for her soda and leaving. It had been over twenty minutes, and he most likely wasn't going to show up. She realized that someone had approached her table and she looked up expecting it to be the waiter. She was surprised to see Victor standing there.

"Hi." She said a little stunned.

"I'm sorry I'm a little late." He said taking a seat across from her. He was wearing a black button up long sleeved shirt with jeans. He was wearing his boots, and gloves like she had seen him wear whenever he was at Best Buy.

"A little late? You had me here waiting for over twenty minutes." She wasn't trying to hide that she was displeased.

"I'm sorry." He repeated. "I got nervous. I haven't been on a date like this in years."

She was about to call him on that. All guys said that, but there seemed to be a look in his eyes that held truth. She couldn't find it in herself to stay angry with him.

"Don't worry about it." She gave him a small smile. "Anyway, you better think about what it is that you want." She said, handing him a menu.

"What would you recommend?" he asked as he looked.

"If it's your first time here, I would recommend the original double and cheese steak burger." Rose answered. "It's just a steak burger with cheese and your choice of toppings on a toasted bun."

"Do you know what you're having already?" Vincent asked.

She nodded. "I'm having the fried chicken salad. That one's good."

"Are you two ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?" the waitress asked.

"I'm ready to order if you are." Rose said.

Vincent nodded. "I'll have the original double and cheese steak burger with lettuce, pickles and onions please."

"Anything to drink sir?" she asked

He looked at the menu again. "An iced tea, sweetened."

'_**Pansy.**_'

Vincent fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"And for you ma'am?"

"I'll take the fried chicken salad and a refill on my coke please." Rose said.

The waitress took the menus. "I'll be back with your drinks in a moment."

Vincent turned his attention on Rose. "So, what were we going to do tonight?"

"I was thinking about going to Grady's Family Fun Park on Morrissey Drive. It has bumper cars, bumper boats, mini golf, video arcade, carnival rides and go karts." She said. "It's a place where kids can be kids and grownups like us can be kids again."

Vincent was immediately uncomfortable about this. "I don't know…"

"It'll be fun, I promise." She assured him.

The waitress came back with their drinks and left saying their order would be up shortly.

"Please give it a chance. I promise, you'll have fun."

Vincent decided to trust her and go with it.

They arrived at Grady's Family Fun Park and Vincent's unease grew bigger with every step they took closer to the park.

'_**Better not pass out on one of those rides. That wouldn't be a good first impression for your new girlfriend.**_'

'Who said we were dating?'

'_**You did, when you showed up at that restaurant.**_'

"If you're not up for the rides, we could do that another time. I'm not really wearing the right shoes for them anyway." Rose said, not giving him a chance to reply to Chaos.

"That's fine with me." Vincent said. "Where did you want to start?"

"Want to try your hand at golfing?" she asked.

"Alright. I've haven't been to a place like this in a while, so you go ahead and lead."

She smiled as she led the way to the mini golf course. It took them over an hour to get through the course, neither of them caring what their final score was. They were there for the fun, not for the points. They went to the arcade after that. Vincent watched Rose play more than play himself. They got ice cream there afterwards and then headed back. It was nearing midnight when they were driving back to her place.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Rose asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Yes, I did. The most fun I've had since I've been here." He answered. He was surprised with himself when he answered truthfully.

"I'm glad." Rose said as they pulled up to her house.

"Will I, see you again?"

Rose stopped from getting out of the car and turned to him. "Yeah." She said with a smile. "Definitely."

Vincent gave a small smile in return. "I'm not too comfortable with giving you my number yet, but I'll come by Best Buy again and we can talk about it then."

"I look forward to it. Good night Victor."

"Good night." He said. He watched her walk up the sidewalk and disappear into her house. "Rose."

'_**You should have walked her to the door, then you could have shared a good night kiss.**_'

'I really shouldn't be seeing her in the first place.' Vincent replied as he drove himself back to the apartment.

'_**You two are completely compatible.**_'

'How do you know this?'

'_**She's fun and carefree and you're not.**_' Chaos answered.

'I fail to see how we are compatible.'

'_**I have access to your memories and if they serve me right, that is how you used to be.**_'

Vincent's hands tightened on the steering wheel as he turned onto the street that would take him to the apartment. 'I don't want to talk about it.'

'_**The sooner you make peace with it, the sooner you can move on and have a real relationship with Rose.**_'

"I don't want to talk about it." Vincent growled as he got out of the car. He knew deep down, that if he wanted to have a real relationship with someone like Rose, he would have to make peace with himself before he could move on. He knew that Chaos was right. Perhaps Rose could be the one who would help him move on.

_A/N: So, what did you think of their first date? I know that this chapter is a little on the short side, but I will try to make the chapters longer as the story goes on. Things probably won't pick up a little for another chapter or two. I'm thinking in the next chapter you will be given a small hint out as to what is going on with Rose, but it's going to be a while till you hear the whole story. I would like to thank DevilAngelResa18 for reviewing my story, I really appreciate it. Please follow her lead and leave your reviews. They really are appreciated you guys. It lets me know you guys are enjoying the story._


	5. Creature Dance

_Hey guys I'm back with another chapter. I'm sorry I didn't update in the last few days, but I just didn't feel like writing for some reason. So, I made this chapter a bit long for you guys. Enough of that enjoy the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them. I also do not own any of the songs mentioned and/or used in this chapter. They belong to their rightful owners._

Chapter 4 Creature Dance

'_**You better hurry up. You don't want to keep your girlfriend waiting.**_'

'She's not my girlfriend.'

'_**That's what you say now, but I think you'll be changing your mind soon.**_'

That's how it had been for the month of June. Vincent and Rose had gone out a couple times a week. Hanging out in restaurants, going to fun places like they had Grady's and just driving around. The only places they hadn't hung out at were the other's home. It was July now and Vincent had received news from Square Enix that he would be able to return home soon. Vincent didn't want to get too involved with Rose just to up and leave and never come back. He didn't want to do that to her. He hated to admit that they were getting closer, even though he tried not to do so.

'_**You could always take her with you.**_'

'That wouldn't be possible unless there really was a legitimate reason to do that. Plus it's not like I can tell her the truth about myself. She would never believe it.'

'_**It never hurts to try. You never know, she might surprise you.**_'

Maybe Chaos was right. Maybe she would believe him if he told her he really was Vincent Valentine from the planet of Gaia. No, it wouldn't be possible. She would only see him as a character from a game. During their time together she talked only a little bit about Final Fantasy Seven, but only a little bit. She didn't want to bore him on the kind of stuff she was interested in. It seemed to Vincent she did know about quite a bit about his planet just from a mere game. A game that was based on truth that she didn't know about.

'_**You know, if she doesn't believe you I could always appear. That should make a believer out of her.**_'

'No. She doesn't need to have a heart attack from seeing you.'

'_**Ouch, that hurt.**_'

Vincent sighed as he finished putting on his boots and walked out of his apartment to head to Best Buy.

Rose sighed as she reapplied more make up that managed to rub off to the bruise on her right cheek bone. She hated it that she had to hide this kind of stuff, but it had become her life when her mom died when she was fourteen. She winced a little when she applied to much pressure to it. She inspected it in the mirror, but she knew she wouldn't be able to hide it completely. It was too dark right now. She had just put her make up back into her purse when the door to the bathroom opened.

"Oh Rose. Your boyfriend's here." Came a sing song voice from a brunette girl.

"Thanks Tasha, but he's not my boyfriend." Rose said.

"Hmm, are you sure? You've been seeing him for about a month now. I think it's safe to say he's your boyfriend." She replied. "Do you think you'll stick with this one?"

Rose smiled as she turned to face her friend. "He really is a sweet guy."

"Not to mention gorgeous and drop dead sexy." Tasha added. "Oh, before I forget. Eric wanted me to give you this and tell you the theme this time is creatures." She said handing her a dance flier.

"Thanks Tasha. I'll see you there." Rose said as she left the bathroom with her. 'I wonder if Victor will want to go to this. Only one way to find out.'

She found him in the computer section like usual. It became their meeting place since that day she helped him find the adapter for his laptop. She was surprised to find him looking at a laptop.

"Don't tell me you need a new one of those." She said as she approached him.

He turned to look at her. "No, just looking."

"Ah, I see…how do you feel about dances?" she asked, holding the flier behind her.

"It's been a while since I've been to one, but I wouldn't mind going." He answered.

"How do you feel about dressing up for it?" she asked, crossing her fingers that he wouldn't mind that.

"Dress up how?"

"Well you see, you have to dress up for it for the theme. This time it is a creature theme. The only way you can get in is to have a flier and to dress up for that theme. Once you get in the drinks and snacks are free. That's how this particular dance works." She explained, showing him the flier. "This only happens every couple of months, but we don't have to go if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine. I just have to get a costume is all." He replied. According to the flier he only had a couple of days to do so.

"I know a great place to get one. I get off work in a couple of hours. We could meet at the entrance and go if you want." She said.

Vincent nodded. "Alright, I'll see you in a couple of hours."

A couple of hours later Vincent came and picked Rose up from work and with her directions was able to get to a small business that sold costumes and Goth stuff year round. It wasn't the only store the business had in town, but Rose liked that particular store because she knew the people that worked there.

A man wearing almost all black looked up from his magazine behind the counter when he heard the bell chime in the door. "Rose, I haven't seen you in a while."

"Hi Charles, he needs a costume." Rose greeted back with a smile. "This is Victor, Victor this is Charles."

"Hi, nice to meet you." Charles said holding out his hand.

"The pleasure's mine." Vincent said shaking his hand.

"Feel free to roam. Let me know if you need help with anything."

"Thanks Charles." Rose said and turned to walk towards the back of the store. "Did you give any thought as to what you want to dress up as?"

"I haven't decided yet." Vincent answered, as he looked at the costumes. He turned to look at her and ask her opinion, but he saw something on her cheekbone. "Is that a bruise?" he asked, lightly touching it.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." She said holding a hand to her cheek.

"How did you get it?" Vincent asked, concern in his voice.

"We have a kitchen door that swings both ways and I keep forgetting that. It got me in the face this time. It's no big deal." Rose said with a smile. "Anyway, since you haven't thought about it, would you like to hear an opinion, or did you want to keep browsing till you find something?"

"No, go ahead." Vincent said, wanting to hear what she thought he should dress up as.

"Personally, I think you would make a great vampire or werewolf." She replied.

'_**How ironic is that?**_'

Vincent ignored him. "Werewolf or vampire…"

"Or you could dress up as Vincent Valentine, since he's a creature in of himself in a way."

Vincent slowly turned and looked at her at that statement.

She instantly blushed. "I'm sorry, forget I said that."

'_**Ask her about it. See what she knows about you.**_'

"How is Vincent Valentine a creature?" he asked.

"I don't want to bore you."

"I'm curious." He pressed.

"Well, he was genetically altered by a crazed scientist named Hojo, who had no morals what so ever. Because of him Vincent is able to turn into the Gilian Beast, Death Gigas, and Hellmasker. He died due to the experiments, but another scientist name Lucrecia Crescent saved him by putting a tainted lifestream into him and that gave him Chaos. I honestly think she didn't mean to give him Chaos. She was just trying to save him." She explained.

'_**Wow, she knows more about you than I thought.**_'

"You gathered this information from one game?" Vincent asked.

"Two actually. Final Fantasy Seven and Final Fantasy Seven Dirge of Cerberus which is centered around Vincent Valentine." She explained, blushing a little. "He's one of my favorite characters."

"There's nothing wrong with that." Vincent said, ignoring the snickering from Chaos.

Rose looked at herself in the mirror, making some last minute touchups on her makeup. Her face and hands were pasty white, it was painted black around her eyes, she had on black lipstick and her nails were also painted black. She was wearing a tattered looking white robe and a white wig.

"I make a pretty good looking ghoul, if I do say so myself." She said as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was grateful that Robert, her step-father, was gone with some friends that night. She just prayed he didn't come home drunk. She went to her room to grab her spider web earrings, then ran downstairs to the door when she heard knocking.

"Hi." She greeted when she opened the door. "You look great Victor."

"Wow." Was all Vincent could say when he saw her costume.

'_**She's looking good tonight Valentine. Maybe you'll get lucky later.**_'

"Are we going to go, or are we going to stand here all night looking at each other?" she asked, bringing Vincent out of his thoughts.

"Yes, I'm sorry."

"Relax Victor, you shouldn't be so uptight." Rose said as they walked to his car.

She stole glances at him in his costume. He had on dark pants, a white dress up shirt that frilled at the cuffs, a dark maroon vest and nice dress shoes. He wasn't wearing his cape since he was driving. It was easier for him that way. He most likely would put it on when they got there. He had rented the costume since he most likely would only wear it once.

"So, how do we get to the Lafayette Club?" he asked.

"You're going the right way. I'll let you know when you need to turn." Rose said, turning her attention back to the road.

"Are you sure we just need the flier to get into this thing? We don't need to pay for anything?"

"Yes I'm sure." Rose said. "I graduated with the people that run this thing. To them, this is just something for people to go to, hang out and have fun."

Vincent nodded as he turned his attention back to the road. It was quiet, but it was comfortable.

"Mind if I turn on the radio?" Rose asked.

Vincent hadn't heard any of the music from this planet and figured he might as well hear what he might be hearing at this dance. "No, go ahead."

She smiled as she turned on the radio. She fiddled with the knobs until she found a radio station she liked. She listened for a moment then smiled as she recognized the song. "Firework. I love this song by Katy Perry." She started singing along with the song.

Baby you're a firework Come on let your colors burst Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh Your gonna leave them falling do-oh-own.

'_**Wow. She really has a voice doesn't she?**_'

Rose looked over at Vincent to see him looking at her. She blushed a little, thankful that her makeup was hiding it. "Sorry."

"Any other amazing talents you would like to tell me about?" he asked.

The blush on her face deepened. "Come on, I'm not that good."

"You have an amazing voice." He replied.

"Thanks."

They were able to hear a couple more songs in the car, Back to December by Tailor Swift and Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar, before they made it to the dance. Vincent even had to admit that they were fairly good songs. He put on his cape when they got there and pulled the flier from his pocket.

"Hey Rosie, haven't seen you in a while." A guy in a mummy costume said as he approached them and wrapped her in a hug.

"Hey Eric." Rose replied as she returned the hug.

"New boyfriend?" he asked as he released her and turned his attention to Vincent.

"I guess you could say that." She replied with a small blush. "This is Victor, Victor this is Eric."

"Nice to meet ya." Eric said, extending his hand.

Vincent shook the hand that was offered to him. "Nice to meet you too."

"Do you two have your flier?" Vincent handed it to him."Alright. The dance just began so go in and enjoy yourselves."

"We're dating now?" Vincent asked as he followed her into the club.

"Well, we have been seeing each other for about a month now." Rose replied sheepishly.

'_**See? She agrees with me. You two are officially boyfriend and girlfriend.**_'

Rose looked at Vincent when he didn't answer. "Should I have told him that we were just friends?"

He shook his head. "Actually, I've been wondering about that myself."

'_**Ha! You admit it! You two are dating!**_'

"Aw man, missed Hotel California." Rose said as that song wrapped up.

"Hotel California?"

"Yeah by the Eagles, it's a really good song." Rose replied.

"Name please."

"Hi Tasha." Rose said as she wrote her name on the scrap piece of paper that was provided for her and dropped it into the hat. "I love your elf costume. It's so cute."

"Thanks, and I love your ghoul costume, I can never get mine to look that great." She turned to Vincent. "Hey Victor, I love your costume. It really fits you."

"Thanks." Vincent said, ignoring the snickering from Chaos.

"I've got many more names to gather, so I'll see you two later."

"Bye Tasha." Rose said as she walked away. She turned her attention back to Vincent. "Do you want to get a soda or something?"

As the dance wore on, Vincent found that he was enjoying himself while he was with Rose. She didn't force him or try to talk him into dancing, which he was grateful for. They did hear another Katy Perry song California Girls that he didn't really get into along with F-ing Perfect by Pink. When they heard You Belong to Me by Taylor Swift, he almost got a headache from Chaos's constant laughing.

The mummy that was Eric took his place by the DJ and took a microphone as the music stopped. "You guys have fun tonight?"

Everybody in the room either started cheering or clapping.

"I'm glad to hear that. It's getting to be two in the morning so we need to wrap this up, but we have one more song for you and you know what that means."

There was more cheering and applauding as he reached into the same hat that Rose had dropped her name into.

"What's going on?" Vincent asked, looking at Rose.

"This is what Eric calls the spotlight dance. A few names get drawn from the hat. Whomever's name gets pulled, she and their partner of the night get to dance to a slow song, kind of as a closing ceremony." Rose explained.

Eric pulled the names from the hat. "Emily Myer…Rachel Winscott…and Rose Laire. Give them a hand everybody."

"I really wasn't expecting that." Rose said as she approached the dance floor with Vincent.

The lights dimmed as the song began.

(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I get a little bit lonely  
>And you're never coming round<p>

(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I get a little bit tired  
>Of listening to the sound of my tears<p>

(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I get a little bit nervous  
>That the best of all the years have gone by<p>

(Turn around)  
>Every now and then I get a little bit terrified<br>And then I see the look in your eyes  
>(Turn Around, bright eyes)<br>Every now and then I fall apart  
>(Turn Around, bright eyes)<br>Every now and then  
>I fall apart<p>

"Do you regret coming?" Rose asked as they danced.

"No, not all." Vincent replied.

(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I get a little bit restless  
>And I dream of something wild<br>(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I get a little bit helpless  
>And I'm lying like a child in your arms<br>(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I get a little bit angry  
>And I know I've got to get out and cry<br>(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I get a little bit terrified  
>But then I see the look in your eyes<br>(Turn Around, bright eyes)  
>Every now and then<br>I fall apart  
>Turn around, bright eyes<br>Every now and then  
>I fall apart<p>

And I need you now tonight  
>And I need you more than ever<br>And if you only hold me tight  
>We'll be holding on forever<br>And we'll only be making it right  
>'Cause we'll never be wrong<br>Together we can take it to the end of the line  
>Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time<br>(All of the time)  
>I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark<br>We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks  
>I really need you tonight<br>Forever's gonna start tonight  
>(Forever's gonna start tonight)<p>

Once upon a time  
>I was falling in love<br>But now I'm only falling apart  
>There's nothing I can do<br>A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time there was light in my life  
>But now there's only love in the dark<br>Nothing I can say  
>A total eclipse of the heart<p>

[Instrumental Interlude]

Rose closed her eyes as she leaned her head against Vincent's chest as they continued to dance.

(Turn Around, bright eyes)  
>(Turn Around, bright eyes)<p>

(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I know you'll never be the boy  
>You always wanted to be<br>(Turn around)  
>But every now and then<br>I know you'll always be the only boy  
>Who wanted me the way that I am<br>(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I know there's no one in the universe  
>As magical and wondrous as you<br>(Turn around)  
>Every now and then<br>I know there's nothing any better  
>There's nothing that I just wouldn't do<br>(Turn Around, bright eyes)  
>Every now and then I fall apart<br>(Turn Around, bright eyes)  
>Every now and then I fall apart<p>

And I need you now tonight  
>And I need you more than ever<br>And if you only hold me tight  
>We'll be holding on forever<br>And we'll only be making it right  
>'Cause we'll never be wrong<br>Together we can take it to the end of the line  
>Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time<br>(All of the time)  
>I don't know what to do<br>I'm always in the dark  
>Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks<br>I really need you tonight  
>Forever's gonna start tonight<br>(Forever's gonna start tonight)

Once upon a time I was  
>I was falling in love<br>But now I'm only falling apart  
>There's nothing I can do<br>A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time there was light in my life  
>But now there's only love in the dark<br>Nothing I can say  
>A total eclipse of the heart<p>

A total eclipse of the heart  
>A total eclipse of the heart<br>(Turn Around, bright eyes)  
>(Turn Around, bright eyes)<br>(Turn around)

There was applause as the song ended and the couples stopped dancing. Rose opened her eyes and lifted her head, realizing the song had ended. It seemed too fitting.

"Did you have fun?" Rose asked, as Vincent walked her to her door.

"Yes I did." Vincent answered. "Did you?"

"Only because I was with you." Rose said as they walked onto the porch and to the door.

'_**Aw, isn't that cute?**_'

"Should I come by Best Buy in a couple of days so we can set up what we'll do next?" Vincent asked, ignoring Chaos.

"Yes, definitely."

'_**You gonna kiss her tonight?**_'

Vincent looked into Rose's eyes as he lifted his hand and caressed her cheek. He lowered his face towards hers and her lips parted slightly as he came down to her. He paused, as if contemplating if he should do this or not.

'_**Don't you dare chicken out now. I'll give you hell if you do.**_'

Vincent finally closed the distance and their lips made contact. The kiss was short lived, Vincent removing himself from her before it could go any farther.

"I'll see you in a couple of days." Vincent said.

"Yes." Rose agreed.

_A/N: I hope this chapter was long enough for your liking. I normally don't put songs into chapters like this, and I think this will be the only time I do so. The song is Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. The song just seemed so fitting for both of them. Again I'm sorry for the wait on this update, and I shouldn't take as long for the next one. Please leave your reviews. They are greatly appreciated._

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	6. The Last Date and Avoidance

_Hey I'm back with another chapter. I really hoped you guys enjoyed the last one. I wasn't completely happy with it, but I needed to post it and move on. Things won't be picking up quite yet and you won't know everything that's been going on with Rose till probably the next chapter. Enough said, enjoy the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 5 The Last Date and Avoidance

Rose sighed in the stall she had locked herself in. Her lip had begun to bleed again and she had quickly excused herself to the restroom to get it to stop bleeding. She carefully pulled the toilet paper away from her lip to inspect it. There was still bright crimson on it, which meant that it was still bleeding. She moved the toilet paper so it was in a clean area before reapplying it to her swollen bleeding lip.

Robert, her step-father, didn't come home drunk like she had hoped, but he did have a hangover and was in a very bad mood. He didn't like the idea that she had gotten close to Victor and had wanted, no ordered her to start the breaking up process. When she had begun to protest, he grabbed her by the upper arms, almost slammed her against the wall and slapped her, thus causing her lip to bleed.

He had reminded her again that it was her fault that her mother had been killed. Her fault that he had lost his love and therefore she didn't deserve to know true love herself. This had been going on for seven, almost eight years. If she tried to run away, he would kill her when he found her. If she tried to go to the police or her family for help, he would kill her family one member at a time. She was stuck and she knew it.

She moved the toilet paper away and saw there was no more blood on it. Her lip was done bleeding. She flushed it and walked out of the stall and proceeded to wash her hands. She looked up at the mirror to see who was coming into the bathroom when the door opened. It was Tasha, the only person she had been allowed to have as a friend and hang out with after she had graduated from college.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked as she approached her. "Brian told me your lip was bleeding."

"I just bit it during the night last night. It's no big deal." Rose lied as she turned to dry her hands.

"Are you sure that's all that's going on?" Tasha asked. She had suspicions about what was going on but didn't know exactly how to go about helping her friend.

"Please Tasha, just drop it." Rose begged, not wanting to get her friend involved.

Tasha sighed. "Well, Victor's here." She turned and left her friend to finish up alone in the bathroom. She didn't understand why Rose would get a boyfriend just to date for about a month then leave them. Victor was the nicest guy she had been with yet. If the same thing happened to him, she definitely was going to have a talk with him and let him in on her suspicions. She hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

Vincent was waiting for her in the computer section again. Tasha had told him that she had found her in the bathroom and that she would be there in a couple of minutes. He had debated with himself since the dance and had come to a decision. He would take her to the movies and then back to his apartment to talk. He was going to tell her who he truly was and then give her the option of coming home with him. Rose was the only woman he felt a connection with since Lucrecia.

'_**If you had listened to me in the first place, then we wouldn't have had that little debate.**_'

"Hey." Rose greeted with a small smile as she approached him.

Vincent's attention was instantly drawn to her lip. "What happened?"

"Just rough housed a little too rough with a friend a day ago. Don't worry about it." She replied.

'_**I don't think that is what really happened.**_'

Vincent decided to file that comment away for another time. "Was there something specific you wanted to do for our next date?"

"Well, Tasha had been bugging me to ask you if we could go on a double date with her and her boyfriend Brian. They were going to go midnight bowling at Circle Lanes tonight if you want to go." She answered. "But if there was something else you would rather do, then we could do that."

Vincent only had a few weeks left till he went home, but he guessed the movie date and talk could wait another day. "No, that's fine. Just don't expect me to bowl." He said holding up his gloved hands.

Rose looked at them for a moment then up at Vincent. "Why do you wear gloves and long sleeves? It's the middle of the summer."

"Let's just say that there's things I don't want anyone to see." He answered, lowering his hands. "When do you want me to pick you up tonight?"

"Will you stop picking up your spares?" Tasha asked.

"I can't help it you decided to clean the gutter tonight instead of hitting the pins." Rose teased back.

Tasha replied to that by playfully narrowing her eyes at her friend. Vincent watched on in amusement. If Rose did believe him to be Vincent and agreed to come home with him, he thought she would get along just fine with Yuffie.

"You're not much of a bowler either, huh?"

Vincent regarded Brian, Tasha's boyfriend before answering. "No, but she's having fun so I don't mind that I'm just sitting here."

"You're a good guy Victor. I hope things turn out well for you two." He said as he took a drink from his soda.

Vincent turned to the man sitting at the table with him. "What do you mean?"

Brian glanced at the girls to make sure they were still busy with their game. "You can't tell either of the girls we discussed this, okay? Rose, has had a lot of boyfriends. Most of them only lasting a month before she breaks up with them. She has had a lot of cuts and bruises that she always seems to have an excuse for. Tasha and I really think that something is going on at home, but neither one of us have been able to get her to talk about it."

Vincent looked back at Rose. 'The bruise on her cheek, the split lip…she couldn't be, could she?'

"Alright, I give up. Brian it's your turn." Tasha said, snapping Vincent from his thoughts.

"Aw, are we getting tired of being beat?" Rose teased as Brian took over to try and beat Rose at bowling.

"Rose told me you're not from around here. How do you like Bloomington so far?" Tasha asked as she took Brian's seat.

"This town isn't too bad." Vincent replied.

"Do you mind if I ask where you are from?" she asked.

"Yes. I would rather not talk about it."

"Bad memories?" Tasha asked.

"You could say that." Vincent replied.

Tasha gave a small chuckle. "Sounds like Rose's favorite videogame character."

'_**Here we go again Valentine.**_'

"Vincent Valentine, right?"

"Ah, so she has talked about him with you." She replied.

"Yes, a little bit."

"Did she ever tell you that you remind her of him?" she asked.

Vincent looked at her. "No. She spared me that information."

Tasha smiled. "Quiet, caring, mysterious and sexy. She told me all are Vincent Valentine, and of you."

Vincent took a sip of his drink, ignoring the laughter by Chaos. "I never thought I would be compared to a videogame character."

"It's a good thing with her though. I know her well enough to assure you of that." Tasha said with a smile.

"Hey Tash, I can't speak for Rose and Victor, but we both have work tomorrow. I think it's time we leave. It's already going on one." Brian said as he approached the table with Rose.

Rose stretched her arms over her head. "Yeah, I have to agree. It was fun though."

"We'll have to do it again sometime." Vincent said as they walked to their cars.

"Yes, we should." Tasha agreed.

"Have a good night you two." Rose said.

"Yeah, same to you." Brian replied.

"See you at work tomorrow Rose." Tasha said as she climbed into the car.

"Did you want to go see a movie tomorrow night?" Vincent asked as he drove her home.

"Sure, which movie?" Rose asked.

"I was thinking Super 8. That one looks interesting." He answered.

"Yeah, I've been wanting to see that one myself." She replied with a smile. "I'll meet you at the Galaxy off of Main, okay?"

Vincent nodded, surprised that he was actually going to go through with his plan.

'_**Something's wrong here Valentine.**_'

'What makes you say that?'

'_**You've been standing here for two hours waiting on her. Something is wrong.**_'

It was true, he had been waiting for her in the lobby of the movie theater for two hours now. Rose wouldn't stand him up like this, would she?

'I'm sure she has a legitimate reason for not showing up.'

'_**Something is wrong. You need to go see her.**_'

'She works tomorrow. I'll see her then.' Vincent replied as he left the movie theater.

It wasn't busy at Best Buy the next morning when Vincent went in. He looked in the computers section, then the TV section and then the movie section without any luck. He finally found her in the appliances section.

"Rose?" he called, approaching her.

"I have work to do in the warehouse." She said, walking off not looking at him.

This was not like her at all. "Rose please, I want to talk to you." He said, going after her.

"Employees only." She said before disappearing behind a door.

Vincent leaned against the wall next it. He wanted to know what was going on, even if that meant he would wait on her all day.

"Victor? What are you doing?"

He looked up to see Tasha standing a few feet away from him. She apparently was walking by but stopped when she spotted him.

"I'm waiting for Rose to come back out so I can talk to her." He answered.

"Why, what happened?" she asked approaching him.

"I don't know."

Tasha paused, seeming to think for a moment. "Victor, come with me for a moment."

"Why?"

"It's important, that's why." She answered, as she walked off.

Vincent didn't want to move in case Rose came back, but he felt that this was important enough to see what Tasha wanted to talk about. He followed her to the women's restroom. She disappeared in it for a moment before re-emerging and pulled him inside, locking the door behind him.

"I don't think this is a good idea." Vincent said.

"Will you relax? We're here to talk, not make out and this is the only place we can privately talk." She explained.

"What about cameras? Won't it be picked up that we went in here together?" Vincent asked, his training as a Turk kicking in.

"From where this bathroom is located, it is a blind spot to the cameras. Nobody will know we were in here together unless we're reckless when we leave." She answered.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Rose is what I wanted to talk to you about. Cuts, bruises, nose bleeds, and only keeping boyfriends for so long. I think something is going on at home that she isn't telling us about." Tasha said.

Vincent took a moment to think. The bruise on her cheek and the split lip that she had. Things started to come together for him. "Does she live with someone?"

"Yes, her father I believe, but I really don't know him. Whenever we hang out it's never at her place." She replied.

"Do you know what time she gets off today?"

"Don't try to approach her today. She has tomorrow off, go to her house and talk to her then. That way I can tell her today that you left, which you will to make this work, and you can talk to her tomorrow. She won't expect you to show up at her place." She explained.

Vincent nodded. He didn't like the idea of having to leave Rose that day, but he had to if he was going to see her tomorrow.

Vincent knocked on the door of Rose's home the next morning. He wanted to talk to her as soon as possible. He was about to raise his hand to knock again when the door opened. Rose stood there, stunned for a moment, her hair covering half of her face.

"What are you doing here Victor?" she asked, confused. Tasha had told her he had left yesterday. What was he doing here?

"I want to talk to you." He answered.

"There's nothing to talk about." She answered. She looked at his hand that kept the door from closing before looking back at him.

"Please Rose, I want to talk. That's all I'm asking for."

"I don't want you to get hurt Victor. Please go." She plead.

Vincent opened his mouth to say something but a yell that came from inside the house stopped him.

"Who the hell is at the door?"

Fear came over Rose's face as she quickly turned to the inside. The movement causing her hair to move away, allowing Vincent to see her black eye.

"He's beating you, isn't he?"

Rose turned back to him, quickly placing her hair back into place. "Please Victor. I don't want you to get involved in this. Please, go." She said.

A man with brown hair that was almost as tall as Vincent approached the door. "What the hell are you doing here? Can't you take a hint? She doesn't want to see you anymore. I'm giving you one minute to get off my property before I call the cops on you."

"Alright, I'm going." Vincent said. He gave one last look towards Rose before turning and leaving.

'_**What the hell are you doing? Go back there, kill his sorry ass and take Rose!**_'

'That's not how I'm going to do things. I already have an idea of what I'm going to do.'

_A/N: I'm sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up. A couple of days ago I almost had it done, but I got called into work. I was editing it and decided that it was too short, so I added onto it. Then I decided to add something else, then decided to delete it from this chapter and put it in the next one. After doing that a couple hundred times, I was finally happy with it and this was the finished product. So please be happy with it. I have decided you are going to hear Rose's story in the next chapter. Once I'm happy with how that one goes, it will be posted, so stay tuned for it. In the meantime please leave reviews. They give me motivation. Peace!_


	7. Truths Revealed

_Okay, here is the chapter that will reveal what has been going on with Rose. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter since your questions will hopefully be answered here. A warning now, there is mention of rape, but it won't go into detail. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 6 Truths Revealed

It had been a couple of days since Victor had showed up at the house. Rose sat in her room, thankful that Robert was gone with friends like he always did on Wednesday nights. She came out of her thoughts when she heard tapping…from her window? She stood from her desk chair and walked over. She pulled the curtains back to reveal Victor peering in. She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. When she regained her composure she opened the window.

"What the hell are you doing up here?" she glanced at the ground below. "How did you get up here anyway?" her room was on the second floor.

"The ivory trellis on this side of the house." He answered.

Rose gaped at him. "You climbed that thing?"

"How else was I supposed to get up here? Are you going to let me in so we can talk?' he asked.

She moved to the side and allowed him to climb into her room. "I don't think there is anything to talk about."

"Yes there is." Vincent replied. "Your father is beating you and I'm not going to just back off like the others did."

"Step-father." Rose corrected. "He's not my real father."

Vincent gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "Rose, please tell me. What's going on?"

Rose could see that he really did care. She took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts. She had never told anyone this with the fear that they would be put into danger by knowing what was going on in her life.

"You won't leave me alone unless I tell you." She didn't ask, she already knew that he wouldn't.

"Please Rose, tell me everything."

She took another deep breath before she began. "My father died when I was six. He was riding his motorcycle and he dodged a car. He ended up hitting a telephone pole. He didn't make it to the hospital. It was just my mom and me until I was eleven. That was when she married Robert and he along with his son Bradley joined us in this house. Everything was fine till my fourteenth birthday. My mom ran to the store to get something for the ice cream cake she was making for me. A robbery was going on while she was there and it turned bad. She was killed at the store."

She took another deep breath to calm herself before she continued. "It was my fifteenth birthday when he snapped and started hitting me. He told me that it was my fault that his love was killed and that he would not allow me to know true love. When I was sixteen he decided that he would allow his son to marry me when he was done with college and it was when I was seventeen that he allowed Bradley to teach me to please him in bed."

Vincent was getting more disgusted and angry at this man by the second.

She was close to crying now and Vincent gently put his arms around her to help calm her. She didn't want to stop telling him everything, and feeling secure in his arms gave her the strength to continue. "If I fought him, then he would beat me and wouldn't use a condom that was lubricated. He never tried to prepare me at all."

She took another deep breath before continuing. "I was allowed to go to college for Drafting and Design since the insurance money that was left after my mother's death went towards my college fund and he couldn't touch it. Even after school, he wouldn't allow me to go into a career for Drafting and Design. He doesn't want me to have a life of my own. That's how it's been for almost eight years."

"If he's forcing you to marry his son, then why allow you to have boyfriends?" Vincent asked.

"To make everyone believe that I'm looking for the 'right person'. When Bradley finishes school we'll 'date' for a while then we'll get married." She explained. "He'll be finishing up and coming back soon."

"I won't allow it." Vincent said as he loosened his grip on her so he could look at her. "I want you to come with me."

"That wouldn't be possible. He'll kill me if he finds us." She said, stepping back to look at him. "I can't go anywhere. Not to the police or my family. He threatened me several times. Victor, there's no help for me."

"My name…isn't Victor."

'_**Finally! I was getting sick of that name.**_'

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

Vincent took a breath as he met her questioning gaze. "I'm sorry I had to deceive you, but it was necessary to hide who I was and where I was from."

Rose stepped back from him a little. "What are you talking about? You're not a spy from another country are you?"

"No, I'm not a spy and I'm not from any country on this planet." He saw the confusion on Rose's face. "My name is Vincent Valentine and I'm from the planet of Gaia."

"No, you're not." She replied slowly, quirking an eyebrow at him. "Vincent Valentine does not exist along with the rest of Final Fantasy Seven and the planet Gaia. It's just not possible."

"How is it not possible?" he questioned.

"Space travel." She answered. "It is impossible to travel through space safely and live on another planet."

"It is possible. Your planet just hasn't found the technology to do so like my planet has." Vincent replied.

"Alright then, how about this? If you truly are Vincent Valentine, then you should be able to turn into either the Gillian Beast, Death Gigas, or Hellmasker." She retorted, knowing that wouldn't be possible at all.

Vincent sighed, he had hoped that it wouldn't come to this. "If this is the only way to get you to believe, then…"

He took a few steps back, and called upon the Gillian Beast. Rose watched as a foggy mist surrounded, who she believed to be Victor. When it cleared away, a wolf type beast with horns was standing before her. Vincent didn't remain in the form long, only for a few moments before he returned to his normal form.

Rose was shocked, but she really wasn't scared. She was surprised with herself when she thought that it was fascinating. "You're really Vincent Valentine."

'_**I don't sense fear from her. I have to say that I'm impressed.**_'

Even though Vincent didn't sense it either, he still had to ask her. "You're not scared of me?"

"No. Gillian was one that you were able to keep in control of. It was Chaos that you had trouble keeping in control of." She answered as she approached him.

"What do you mean by 'had control'?" he asked.

"Well, Chaos returned to the planet, along with Omega, right? After the Deepground incident." She answered.

"How do you know about Deepground?"

Rose went to her closet and pulled a cardboard box from one of the shelves in it. She placed it on the bed and opened it. She pulled out what appeared to be a game and handed it to Vincent.

"Final Fantasy Seven Dirge of Cerberus. This game is centered around what had happened during the Deepground incident. The gamer also learns more about who you were and how you came to be who you are today while controlling you while you fight against Deepground." She explained. "That sounded a lot weirder coming out of my mouth than it did in my head."

Vincent placed the game back in the box. He decided to talk about the games later. Now they were starting to run out of time if they wanted to get out of there.

"I want you to pack. I'm taking you with me." He said, turning to her.

"Is it possible for me to go with you?"

"I won't have it any other way." He answered. He looked at the box that contained a game system or two and games then back at her. "We can take these if you wish."

"Why?" she questioned. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"When I first came here, I didn't want to get involved with anyone, even if it was just a friendship. I don't know why, but something about you drew me to you, and I fell for you." He explained.

She wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest. He also wrapped his arms around her, drawing her a little closer to him.

"I couldn't help but fall for you too, Vincent."

_A/N: How did you like it? I hope that your questions were answered with what was going on with Rose. They will be taking off here pretty soon. I'm not going to start that chapter till tomorrow though. It was a long day at work and I'm really tired, but I promise to get the next chapter started tomorrow and possibly posted. Please, if there was anything that you didn't understand or have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me or leave it in a review. I can clarify things for you through a PM or in the upcoming chapters. Stay tuned for what will happen next and in the meantime, please leave your reviews._


	8. Taking Off

_Before I begin, I would like to thank Kero for reviewing and leaving a question. Don't worry, it will be answered in this chapter. I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter because it took me forever to finish it and I apologize for that. I went slow with it because I wanted to make sure that it was good and made some form of sense. In the end, it became kind of a long chapter, so please enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 7 Taking Off

Rose decided to pack lightly on clothes and toiletries, since she really didn't know what else to bring or what she would need to get to Vincent's planet. She had to say that she was nervous about going to a new planet, but if the people she knew from the game were anything like they were portrayed, then she knew that she was going to be fine. She grabbed her locket from her dresser then headed downstairs with her packed backpack.

She met up with Vincent in the front hall.

"Is that all you're bringing?" he asked, looking at her one backpack.

"I don't want to over pack with things that I won't need." She answered. "Before we leave I want to stop by Best Buy and return my uniform and…to the cemetery, if it's possible."

Vincent nodded in understanding. "I just want to stop by my apartment before we stop by those places. I just have some last minute things to pack."

"Alright." She replied. She looked down at her feet, seemingly upset about something.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't…disgust you at all?" she asked, meeting his gaze.

Vincent closed the distance between them, placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. When they parted he leaned his forehead against hers. "If I was disgusted, would I love you like this and be taking you with me?"

"Point made." She said with a small smile.

Vincent left Rose in his living room to wait while he finished packing in his room. He had just finished when his cell phone rang. One look at the I.D. told him that it was Square Enix.

"Hello?"

"Vincent." Said a man on the other end of the line. "Have you decided whether or not you want to return home early?"

"Yes I do." Vincent answered. "But I'm also bringing someone with me."

A sigh could be heard from the other end. "Vincent, you do know that you weren't supposed to get involved with anyone." He replied.

"If she can't come with me, then I'm not going."

"She hasn't been prepared for space travel." He tried to reason.

"There is no preparing. She'll be asleep the entire time, just like you did with me." He replied.

He heard some murmuring on the other end before anything else was said. "Alright, but if she reacts badly to it, then it will be on you."

'_**That's what they said about you.**_' Chaos said.

"Go to Chicago. We'll arrange another first class ticket for her to L.A."

'I'm sure she'll be fine.' Vincent thought as he hung up the phone.

He grabbed his things and made his way to the living room. He found her still sitting on the sofa, but she was writing something. "What are you doing?"

Rose looked up from what she was doing. "I'm just writing a small note to my boss explaining that I have a job opportunity that I can't pass up and I won't be coming into work again. I'm also writing a goodbye letter to Tasha. I won't be giving away anything to help Robert or anyone else find us."

Vincent nodded. "Alright. When you're finished with that, then we'll stop by Best Buy and then the cemetery."

Rose went into Best Buy by herself so no one would see her with Vincent and conclusions wouldn't be drawn. She dropped off her uniform and note to her boss at his office first. Then she went into the back room where there were lockers for the employees. Knowing her combination, Rose left her letter as well as a parting gift of a CD she had made of piano music but didn't have the chance to give to Tasha, in her locker. When that was done, she rejoined Vincent in the car.

With her directions they made it to the right cemetery. Vincent drove a little ways into it so they wouldn't have to walk very far. Vincent stayed back a ways so she could have her privacy to view the grave of her parents.

'_**We shouldn't linger here Valentine. Get a move on it.**_'

'This will be the last time she'll be able to view her parents' grave. I will give her the time that she needs.'

Rose gave a small sigh as she stepped back from the grave of her parents and walked back to Vincent. "I'm ready to go now."

"Are you sure? We still have time. We can stay here a little longer if you wish."

"No." she answered. "If I don't leave now, I probably never will."

Vincent kept glancing at Rose as they drove on the interstate. She seemed to be either anxious or nervous. Maybe it was both.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'll feel better once we get out of this state." She said, then looked at him. "Where are we going anyway?"

"We're going to Chicago and taking a plane to Las Angeles." He answered.

"How much is a ticket going to be?" she asked.

"Square Enix is taking care of it. Don't worry about it." He answered.

"And where are we going from there?"

"We'll take a plane to Japan and we'll be going to my planet from there." He explained.

"…Vincent there is something I wanted to ask you and I don't think we'll be able to talk about it on the plane." She said.

"What is it?" he asked, inviting her to talk about it.

"Well, you said this planet doesn't have the technology for space travel, and Square Enix is from Japan. So, how did they get to your planet to get the story and create the games?"

"Square Enix, is from my planet." Vincent said. "When your planet was discovered, Square Soft came to this planet and established its franchise here like it did on my planet. They have space traveled to and from our planets quite a bit actually. They only recently changed their name to Square Enix."

Rose was confused. "I thought that Square Company merged with Enix Corporation to become Square Enix."

"That is what the story that the company gave to you. It can't be found out that they really are from another planet." Vincent explained.

"It makes sense." Rose slowly replied. "Everybody here freaks out when we see UFOs."

"UFO?" Vincent questioned.

'_**What the hell is that?**_'

"Sorry. It stands for Unidentified Flying Object, which the government always seems to have an explanation for." Rose explained.

"Square Enix will take care of that." Vincent replied. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearing eight. "Do you want to stop by somewhere and get something to eat?"

"I'm too nervous to eat anything Vincent, thanks."

"We still have a couple more hours if you wish to get some sleep." He replied.

"I think it's going to be a while before I'll be able to change my sleeping patterns for the better Vincent." She said. "I can stay up pretty late because of…"

'_**You should have taken my advice and killed him.**_'

Vincent ignored him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of your home life."

"You have nothing to apologize for Vincent." She managed to give him a small smile. "Please, just give me some time and I'm sure I'll be able to move on."

When they arrived at the airport, Rose let Vincent take care of getting her plane ticket. Square Enix had called him on the way in and told him what name her ticket was under. Her stomach was doing flip flops as they stood in line to get onto the plane.

"You don't get air sick, do you?" Vincent asked, bringing her back to reality.

"I don't know. I've never been in the air before." She answered. "I might just throw up from nerves to be honest with you."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Vincent said, putting an arm around her.

"Just how long will it take to get to L.A.?" Rose asked, after sitting on the plane for roughly half an hour.

Vincent didn't get a chance to answer since the captain made the announcement that they would be taking off shortly and the flight would take approximately three hours and thirty minutes.

"That answers my question. I should learn to be a little more patient and the answers will come to me." She said with a nervous smile. "There's stuff I want to talk to you about."

"We have time for that later. You really should get some rest. I'll wake you when we're close to landing." Vincent said.

"What about you? Aren't you going to sleep?"

"When we get to our hotel room in L. A. I will." He answered. "You're safe now. Get some rest."

It wasn't until after takeoff that she was able to fall asleep.

Rose woke up as the plane landed, the lurching jarring her awake. She was amazed that she had slept through the entire flight.

"Nothing like a three hour nap before going to bed." She joked as they made their way to their hotel room.

A smile tugged at Vincent's lips as he unlocked the door. The room was nice, even though there was only one bed in it. "I hope you don't mind sharing a bed."

"I'm too tired to care right now." Rose said climbing onto the bed, not bothering to get in it.

She was asleep in a matter of minutes, so Vincent decided to take a quick shower before turning in himself.

Rose woke up to the light pouring into the window. When she opened her eyes she was looking at a door that led into a bathroom that she didn't have in her room. She bolted into a sitting position before remembering where she was. She saw Vincent sitting in a chair in a corner of the room.

"Are you alright?" he asked, standing upon seeing how anxious she was.

"I forgot where I was for a minute there." She said, running a hand through her hair. "I really thought that what happened last night was a dream. This just seems too good to be true."

"Did you sleep alright last night?" he asked, sitting next to her.

She nodded. "Oddly. What time is it anyway?"

Vincent looked at the clock. "Its past eleven here."

"Holy crap…you ate something right?"

"No, I wanted to wait for you to get up." He answered.

"Vincent." She moaned. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I haven't been up that long anyway." He replied.

'_**Liar. You were up at the crack of dawn, like usual.**_'

Vincent gave a small sigh that was loud enough for Rose to hear.

"You alright?" she asked.

'_**You're going to have to tell her about me sooner or later Valentine, and you better make it sooner rather than later.**_'

"I have something I should have told you about before we left." Vincent said. "The game that you told me about that was about the Deepground incident."

"Dirge of Cerberus." She said.

"Yeah. Well the game didn't tell the complete truth about me. Chaos…didn't return to the planet with Omega."

"You still have the Chaos gene in you?" she questioned.

"Yes." He answered, turning away from her gaze. "I know I should have told you earlier, but-"

"Vincent." She interrupted. "It doesn't bother me."

He met her gaze questioningly. "How can it not bother you? I'm not completely human?"

She cupped his cheek with her hand. "Vincent, your one of the most human people I've ever met."

He leaned in to kiss her, but she stopped him.

"I haven't brushed my teeth yet." She said.

"I don't care." He said, pulling her closer and kissing her.

After she had a quick shower, a change of clothes and a quick brushing of her teeth and hair they decided to go out to eat instead of ordering room service. They got a booth in the back at Denny's, Vincent sitting next to her instead of across so they could talk quietly if they needed to.

"How did you get into Final Fantasy Seven?" Vincent asked after they ordered.

"A cousin introduced it to me. I loved the game and he got me my own copy for Christmas one year. He kept sending me the stuff that were spin offs from the game. Dirge of Cereberus, Crisis Core along with a PSP to play it on and the movie." She explained. "I lost touch with him a few years after my mom died though."

Vincent nodded in understanding, tucking some loose hair behind her ear. "Was there anything specific that you wanted to ask me?"

"Chocobos and moogles. Tell me they exist." She pleaded.

"Chocobos do, but moogles are just a myth. There are people who say that they exist, but I have yet to find evidence of that." Vincent replied.

"Oh, that's kind of disappointing." She thought for a minute. "What about white chocobos? There is a lot of controversy saying that they don't exist even though you see one in the game."

"Yes, white chocobos do exist. There are yellow, white, and black." He answered.

"I see." She replied. There was something else she wanted to ask, but she wasn't sure she should. She didn't get a chance to ponder on it since the waiter came back with their order.

They ended up getting back to their hotel room in a hurry due to the storm clouds that were moving in.

"Well, there goes the sun that we woke up to." Rose sighed as she gazed out the window. She walked to the bed, placed the pillow against the headboard and sat down, leaning against the pillow.

"If you're bored, you can play one of your games, I don't mind." Vincent said.

"The TV doesn't have the plug ins for it. I already checked." She replied. "Can I ask you something? It pertains to Chaos."

'_**Oooh, a question about me. Don't I feel special.**_'

"Go ahead." Vincent said.

"Does he, well, talk to you at all? Like in your head?"

Vincent was taken aback a bit by her question. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I'm not the only person who thinks that. A lot of people do." She explained. "Is it true?"

"Yes, though it is more like tormenting." He replied.

'_**Hey!**_'

"Oh. Is it the same with Gillian Beast, Death Gigas and Hellmasker?"

"I only have Gillian Beast other than Chaos. The others were created for the game, why I don't know." Vincent replied. "No, he doesn't speak to me."

"I see." She replied. "They probably did it to give you more limit breaks in the game. Just having two wouldn't have been fun."

He gave her a questioning look at that.

"You'll understand when I play the game." Rose replied.

It ended up raining the rest of the day and the next, which was a disappointment to Rose. She had hoped to see Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Her nerves began jumping again as they got onto the plane to Japan. She was steadily becoming more nervous as they moved closer to getting to the planet of Gaia.

'Eleven hours is too long.' She thought to herself as she looked out the window. "Hey, Vincent I don't know why I thought of this now, but what's going to happen to the car you had?"

"It was provided for me, they'll take care of it." He answered, opening his eyes.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

He shook his head. "No, just resting them."

She was unconvinced and slumped a little in her seat, feeling bad.

He put an arm around her and pulled her close so she could rest her head against him. "You're not bothering me, okay?"

She gave a small nod as he kissed her on top of her head. When they reached their destination, a car was waiting for them. They were driven to a building on the outskirts of the city.

"Mr. Valentine, ma'am. This way please." A man said, leading the way to an elevator.

"They speak English, that's kinda weird." She said as they followed him.

"You're lucky that we are bilingual." He replied with a smile. "You're also lucky that you won't have to learn a new language for the place that you are going."

Her eyes widened as she looked at Vincent. "We speak the same language?"

"Yes." He answered. "That is one of the reasons why I chose to visit America."

"Okay, now that is weird." She said with a nervous chuckle.

"Wait till you meet Yuffie." Vincent replied.

She laughed at that. She regained her composure as the elevator doors opened and they walked down a hallway. They discarded their luggage in one of the rooms and walked to another one. There she met the crew of Square Enix and was explained the procedure of how she would be prepared for hyper sleep, put into hyper sleep and wouldn't know they were traveling through space at all.

A couple of days later, she was prepared for hyper sleep, just like they had explained to her that she would. She was then placed in a capsule alongside Vincent, for her comfort through the rest of the procedure. She was given gas via mask to put her into hyper sleep and was out in an instant. She never woke through the entire trip since she was constantly given the gas into her chamber to ensure that she would stay asleep. It would be another day until she woke up on the new planet that she would soon call home.

_A/N: This chapter is finally finished! This story is not nearly over yet. I hope that this still holds your interest since they are on Gaia now. Kero, I hope your question was answered with satisfaction. Please anyone, if there is something that you got confused about or have any questions on, don't hesitate to ask me through either a PM or in a review. Please review they are greatly appreciated._


	9. Introductions

_Hey Kero, I am so glad that you got your answer to your question and enjoying this story. Thank you Kero and Devilangelresa18 for reviewing. You don't know how much it means to me when you guys review. I want to make an apology. My dog has been really sick over the past week which is why I haven't updated in forever. She is better now I'm happy to say. Also, today at midnight I am leaving with my family for a week for vacation and I won't be taking my laptop with me to update, but I promise I will get back on this when I get back. Before I forget, the characters are only a little older after Dirge of Cerberus for the sake of the story, so please work with me on that. Okay, onto the next chapter, enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them. _

Chapter 8 Introductions

Rose woke up to lights on what appeared to be a metal ceiling. She didn't remember seeing that in what she called a ship for the space travel. She then realized that she wasn't in the capsule she had been put in for hyper sleep.

"You're awake."

She looked to her right to be met with red. She lifted her eyes to meet Vincent's half hidden face.

"And you're wearing your cloak." She replied with a small croak. She put a hand to her throat, just noticing how dry it really was.

"Your throat is going to be a little dry since you haven't had anything to drink for a little over a day." Said a female to her left. Rose looked for the owner of the voice and came face to face with a lovely young lady with dark brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a casual business outfit with a white lab coat over it. "Here, this will help." She said, holding out a paper cup of water.

Rose sat up and took the cup with a small word of thanks. She took a small sip and was very surprised at how smooth it was.

"Rose, this is Dr. Leanne Tuesti." Vincent introduced.

"Tuesti." Rose repeated when her throat didn't feel dry. She took another look at Leanne. "Any relation to Reeve Tuesti?"

Leanne raised her eyebrows a little at that and looked at Vincent. "She really is quick." She turned her attention back to Rose. "Yes, he's my older brother actually."

"Wow, that's cool." Rose replied.

"Square Enix didn't give you that information in any of the games, did they?" she asked with a smile.

"Nope." Rose said, and then held her head a little. "Is it normal for me to be a little light headed?"

"Yes, hyper sleep can do that to you, plus not having eaten anything for a day." Leanne answered. "We'll get you something to wear and then something to eat, but I want to check a few things first."

"Okay, that's no problem." Rose replied.

Leanne proceeded to check her temperature, pulse, blood pressure, eye movement, heartbeat, lungs and hearing.

"Would it be alright with you if I took a little bit of blood for analysis?"

"What?" Rose asked, confused now.

"Could I take a bit of blood for analysis?" Leanne repeated.

"Why?" Vincent asked.

"He asked me to analyze her blood." She answered.

"Are you talking about Rufus Shinra?" Rose asked.

The both looked at her simultaneously. "You catch on really quick, it's almost scary." Leanne said.

"It just sounds like something that he would do actually." Rose explained. "If it will help to convince him that I'm human, then go ahead."

"Rose, you don't have to." Vincent said.

"No, it's understandable. He just wants to make sure there isn't going to be another incident with Jenova." Rose replied.

"Do I have your permission to take some?" Leanne asked.

Rose held out her arm to her. "Go ahead."

"She's a lovely girl Vincent, and I'm not just talking physically." Leanne said.

After drawing Rose's blood she had it sent to the lab for analysis and then she provided her with some clothes. She was now standing outside the room with Vincent, waiting for her to finish dressing so she could get something to eat.

"Yes she is." He replied.

The door opened then and Rose stepped out in a new outfit of khaki shorts, a light purple t-shirt and white sneakers.

"Okay, I think I'm ready to face your world now." She said with a shy smile.

"How are you feeling?" Leanne asked as they started to make their way towards the mess hall.

"Okay. I'm still feeling a little light headed, but I think that's because I need to get something to eat." Rose answered.

"The mess hall is empty right now, but I managed to grab some lasagna for you. Is that alright?" Leanne asked.

"Lasagna sounds fantastic." Rose replied. She looked down at the floor when she heard metal clanging against it. She had almost forgotten that Vincent wore metal over his boots. She turned his attention to him. "Are you wearing your gauntlet too?"

Vincent turned to her. "Yes, why?"

"Can I see it?"

He hesitated, but he finally lifted his left arm to show her his gauntlet.

Her eyes widened a bit when she saw it. "That is so cool."

Vincent lowered his arm and looked straight ahead. "I'm not used to that reaction."

"I've always thought that it was cool." She replied.

They walked into the mess hall, and Leanne was right. It was empty. Rose was thankful for that because she wasn't ready to face or talk with a bunch of strangers yet. There was only one person in there who was sitting at a table in the place. He looked up then stood up with a smile when the three walked in.

"You must be Rose, I'm Reeve." He said extending his hand.

"Yes, nice to meet you." She replied shaking it.

"You must be hungry so sit, eat, and relax." He said, gesturing to the table.

"Thanks." She said with a smile as she sat down. "Oh my god, this smells so good."

"I hope so, I made it." Leanne said with a small laugh.

"Moment of truth." Leanne joked as she took a bite. "Holy cow, this is fantastic." She said after swallowing.

"She's always been a great cook." Reeve said.

"This isn't some secret recipe or anything is it?" Rose asked.

"No, this is just our mom's recipe." Leanne answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, my mom taught me how to taste different foods and figure out what is in them so you can make them later." Rose explained. "She used to make me different things when she wasn't running her shop, and when I was old enough she taught me how to taste different foods and candies so I could make them myself."

"What kind of shop did you mother run?" Vincent asked.

"It was kind of like a candy shop. She made and sold chocolate, candies, cookies and cakes." She answered.

"Alright you got me curious." Leanne said. "Tell me what is in this."

"Okay." Rose took another bite chewing slowly. "It tastes like egg noodles…the tomato sauce has to be home made because it tastes too fresh to be store bought." She worked her mouth to work up the taste in it. "I definitely taste green peppers and onions in it. The cheese is mozzarella of course. There is also garlic and a hint of basil." She turned her attention on Leanne. "Am I correct?"

Her mouth was gaped open a little. "You just read the recipe…holy shit."

Reeve turned to his sister. "Mom always put basil in it?"

"Yes doofus." Leanne answered.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"I love watching siblings fight like this." Rose giggled as she watched the two bicker.

"You're an only child?" Reeve asked.

"By birth yes, by marriage no but you can't call him a brother." She answered. "I really don't want to talk about that right now." She turned her attention back to the lasagna.

"Which one of your parents do you look more like?" Leanne asked, changing the subject.

Rose swallowed her bite of lasagna before answering. "That is really hard to answer because, well, I'll let you have a look and see if you can't figure it out." She took off the locket she had put on when she changed clothes. "This is my mom and real dad." She said pointing to one half of the locket. "This picture here is my mom and me when I was…eight I believe."

"Wow." Leanne said, looking from the picture of her parents back to her. "You really got a little bit of both of them in you, don't you?"

Rose nodded. "The kicker is I got my mom's hair, but my dad's eyes."

Leanne looked at the picture of her parents more closely. Her mom did indeed have blonde hair, but her eyes were a deep blue. Her dad on the other hand had jet black hair and brown eyes, just like Rose.

Reeve was handed the locket next. He did the same, looking at the picture then back at Rose. "I have to agree, you do have both of your parents in you."

Rose nodded as she finished her lasagna. "That was good."

"Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it." Leanne said.

"So are we in the WRO headquarters right now?" Rose asked taking her locket back from Reeve.

"Yes we are." Reeve answered.

"I thought the hallways looked familiar." Rose replied.

Reeve looked to Vincent from that statement.

"She's played the game by Square Enix that is about the Deepground incident." He answered.

Reeve looked at her. "You actually get to see the inside of this place?"

"Mm-hm." Rose nodded. "You actually defend the WRO from the Deepgound attack and then fight them off again but not in time to save the actual headquarters."

"Do you play as WRO soldiers or control them?" Leanne asked.

"No, you play as Vincent." She answered. "It's a third person shooter game and I was getting pretty good at it for a while there."

"Have you ever handled a gun?" Reeve asked.

Rose shook her head. "Not a real one."

"Did you want to eat anything else?" Leanne asked. "I could get you some more."

"Oh, no thank you, I'm fine." Rose said.

"Alright, well I have to go check on your blood test. I'll see you later." Leanne said, standing up and heading towards the door.

"I also have things that I need to attend to. I'll talk to you two later." Reeve said as he followed suit.

"It was nice meeting you." Rose said as she waved to them.

"Since we still have time to wait on your blood test, would you like to look around a little?" Vincent asked, after Reeve and Leanne left.

"Yes, definitely." She answered.

"I can't remember the last time I walked so much." Rose said as she walked back into the main lobby with Vincent. He had just given her a full tour of the WRO and it was bigger than she thought it was.

"Are you still tired?" Vincent asked, looking at her.

"A little bit. I think my body is still trying to wake up a little from hyper sleep." Rose answered.

Vincent didn't get a chance to reply to that. His cell phone went off and he turned from her so he could answer it. Once he was done he put his cell phone away and turned to her.

"That was Leanne. Your tests are done and someone would like to meet you." He said.

They made their way back to the lab. When they walked in they didn't see Leanne. Rose assumed she was probably in her office, but they did see two men in there with suits.

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked when she recognized Reno and Rude.

"Look at that Rude, we were expected." Reno said.

The bald man regarded his partner before turning his attention back to Rose and Vincent.

"If you're here, then your boss must be close by." Rose said.

"What makes you think that he's here?" Rude asked.

"He never goes anywhere without the Turks." She answered. "And I'm sure he would want to see my blood tests for himself."

"We don't mean to suspect you, but it's a necessary precaution." Reno said.

"Reno, you've said enough." Came another man's voice. He emerged from another door in the lab in a wheelchair and approached his Turks.

"Give up the ruse Shinra, you're not fooling me." Rose said, looking at him.

He regarded her before replying. "So you have seen the movie Square Enix has made of us. Impressive that you know and remember so much."

"The story of this planet and of you people is quite interesting. Can't help it if I want to watch it more than once." She said.

"What did you want?" Vincent asked.

Rufus looked at Vincent. "I merely wanted to see her, talk to her and get a feel for who she is."

"Are you satisfied now that you know that she is human?" Vincent asked.

"For now." He answered. "I won't be sending my Turks after her any time soon." With that they left.

"He's really not that nice of a guy is he?" Rose asked as she watched them leave.

"Perhaps not, but he's someone we have to put up with." Leanne said, emerging from the same door Rufus did.

Rose nodded, knowingly.

"Now that has been taken care of, we can go to Edge now." Vincent said. "Cid can give us a ride, it'll be faster."

"Yes, it'll also be easier." Leanne said. "I'll see you two later."

"Bye." Rose waved with a smile before leaving the lab with Vincent.

"Our things should already be on board for us." Vincent said as they walked to where the airships were kept.

"Do you live in Edge, or are we staying there for now?" she asked.

"I live in Edge. I settled there after the Deepground incident." He answered.

She didn't respond, just nodded. She knew that Edge would be a nice place to live. They walked out to where they kept the airships and her eyes grew huge at the sight of them.

"Wow."

Vincent couldn't help but smile at her reaction. "Like them?"

"Yeah." She answered, looking to him. "They're awesome."

"Cid will be happy to hear that." He said.

Rose took a moment to look at them. There were currently five there. "Which one is his? They all look alike."

"The one over here." He replied, leading her to the one on the far left.

Once they entered, they were approached by and saluted by a female WRO soldier. "Mr. Valentine, we're glad to see you have returned home safely. If you're looking for the captain he's in the engine room."

Vincent nodded. "Yes, thank you."

The WRO soldier saluted again before trotting off, Rose assumed to her next assignment.

"Does everybody from AVALANCHE get treated like that?" she asked, turning her attention back to Vincent.

"For the most part." He answered. He looked at her. "If you played the game about the Deepground incident, then do you know how to get to the engine room from here?"

Rose bit her lip as she took in her surroundings. "This way." She said, leading him to the right.

She led him down a few hallways and down a little before they got to the engine room. She didn't make a wrong turn once which was impressive to Vincent. They walked down the last passage that led into the engine room, but stopped at the door when they heard shouting.

"What the hell were you thinking when you did that?"

The two looked at each other at that. "That's Cid." Vincent said.

Rose couldn't help but smile with a small giggle. She had always like Cid, even if he did have a mouth that would put a sailor to shame. He was still yelling, they saw was at a WRO soldier when they walked in.

"You do this kind of thing to the engine, it ruins the entire ship! Do you understand me?" he yelled.

"Yes sir." The WRO soldier whimpered.

"Now get me the tools to fix this damn thing!"

The WRO soldier saluted before running off to fetch the tools that Cid needed. Cid watched him run off and saw the pair standing there.

"Vincent. Glad to see that you're back."

"It's good to be back." Vincent said with a small nod.

"And you must be the little lady I heard about." Cid said, turning his attention to Rose. "Cid Highwind is the name." he said, extending his hand.

"Rose Laire." She said, shaking the hand offered her.

"I'm sorry but the ride is going to be a little delayed till we figure out what the hell is going on here." Cid said turning back to the engine then to the two. "It's going to be a while, so go ahead and take a look around the airship."

"Alright." Vincent said.

"Good luck on the repairs Cid." Rose said.

"Yeah thanks." He said turning back to the engine.

"Where do you want to go to first?" Vincent asked as they walked out of the engine room.

"It really doesn't matter. I guess we could just wander around." She answered.

They walked around the airship for a little over an hour. They almost passed one room but Rose stopped and looked at the door when she thought she heard a sound.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rose asked hearing the sound again.

Vincent nodded with a small smile. "You want to go in and have a look?"

Rose's eyes lit up with a nod. She watched Vincent work the buttons on the panel that opened the door. Inside were three sections that held chocobos. Two of them were yellow and one was white. Two of them were sleeping.

"They're so pretty." Rose cooed as she approached one of the stables. The yellow chocobo it contained approached her almost immediately.

"If you want to pet them go ahead. They're quiet tame and gentle until they are angered." Vincent said.

Rose slowly put out her hand and gently started stroking the side of its head. "You're so pretty." She said as she continued to pet it.

Vincent turned when someone else entered the room. It was a female WRO soldier who gave him a quick salute.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Mr. Valentine, but the captain sent me to find you. He said takeoff will be in a few minutes." She said.

"Alright." Vincent said.

She gave another salute before leaving. Vincent turned back to see Rose tell the chocobo she had to leave.

She rejoined him near the door. "To the helm room then?"

He gave her a small nod before leading her out of the room. They walked to the helm room in silence.

"Hope you don't get airsick." Cid said from the helm as he got ready to start the airship.

"I recently found out that I don't." Rose said, walking to the large window in the front.

"Good, cause I wasn't going to clean up after ya." He said as he eased the airship up to take off towards Edge.

Rose was awestruck by the beauty that flew by below. The planet truly was beautiful. Not that her planet wasn't but she really didn't see much of it while she was there. She really wanted to see as much of this planet that she could while she was there. She gave a small sigh as her new home came into view.

_A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It really took me quite a while to get it written up. I know Rose didn't meet everybody, but she'll meet the rest of them soon. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait, but I really couldn't work on this while my dog was sick. We were really worried about her for a while there. I'm also sorry you guys will have to wait another week for the next chapter. I'll try to make it nice and long to make up for the wait. Please leave your reviews. You don't know how psyched I get whenever I get a new review and reviewer. Please leave reviews, they really are appreciated._


	10. Friendships Beginning

_I'm so sorry for making you guys wait for so long. I have been back from vacation for a week now, but this chapter took me forever to write. I had a major writer's block and had tried to get through it by working on this chapter a little at a time, but it really didn't work and I'm so sorry. My plot bunnies seemed to have left me on this chapter because it really is more of a filler chapter than anything. Again, I'm so sorry for the long wait. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters, I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 9 Friendships Beginning

Rose continued to watch the view of the land fly by below her. Vincent leaned against the wall below the helm as he watched her.

"I didn't expect her to enjoy herself this much." Cid commented as he watched the young woman continue to gaze out the glass.

"Yes, she does seem a lot happier since coming here." Vincent replied. Thinking back to when he had met her and spent time with her on her planet, she was always happy when she was out. When it came time to take her home, she seemed to go into a bit of a depressed state. Anyone looking at her wouldn't have noticed it. Even though she always seemed to have a smile, he could always see the sadness in her eyes.

"Happier? Since? What are you talking about?" Cid asked, looking at Vincent before turning his attention back to flying the airship.

"I won't go into too much detail Cid since I don't know if she wants you to know this or not. She came from a bad situation when I met her and…we just fell for each other." He explained.

'_**Yeah, fell head over heels for each other.**_' Chaos decided to chime in.

"As long as you don't mess this up, nobody will be kicking your ass for this later." Cid said as they came upon the outer limits of the city of Edge.

'I don't intend to mess this up.' Vincent thought to himself.

'_**Good, because I would also kick your ass.**_'

'How?'

'_**First I would kick your ass emotionally, then when I have my form I will fly us into the side of a mountain so hard you will get knocked into the next month.**_' Chaos answered.

'You do realize that would also hurt you, right?'

'_**It would hurt you more than me buster.**_'

Cid brought the airship to a stop outside the city. He went through the post flight procedure and shut down the airship.

"It's going to be a few minutes for us to get the Shadowfoxes out there." He said as he made his way towards the door. "I'm going to overlook the procedure so nobody else does anything stupid."

Rose couldn't help but chuckle at that. She didn't move from the window like Vincent expected her to. She simply stood there, looking out at the city. She slowly wrapped her arms around her, hugging herself as she gazed out at Edge. Vincent pushed away from the wall and approached her from behind and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah, my nerves are jumping a little. That's all."

"You really don't have anything to be nervous about." Vincent tried to assure her.

"I know, but this is a new place that I don't know. My nerves always get the better of me when I'm somewhere that I don't know." She explained. "Kind of funny since I do know this place from a movie and a game."

"Understandable." He replied, removing his arms. "Come on. By the time we get down there, they should have the Shadowfoxes unloaded and ready."

"Alright." She tore her gaze away from the city and followed Vincent out of the helm room.

The ride into the city was uneventful. The WRO soldiers, who were riding with them, didn't try to get her to talk about where she came from. She was tense at first, but she soon relaxed when the ride started and with Vincent sitting next to her.

"Did you want to go straight to Seventh Heaven, or did you want to get dropped off at your place Vincent?" Cid asked, lighting up a cigarette.

"At my place." He answered. "Must you smoke in here?"

"Cut me a break will ya? I haven't had a decent smoke yet today." Cid replied.

"Can't it wait until after the ride?" Vincent asked.

"Okay, fine." Cid said as he put out his cigarette. "Make me waste a good cigarette."

Rose had to press her lips tightly together to keep herself from laughing. Even when he was being serious in the game, he always managed to make her chuckle.

"What's so damn funny?" Cid asked, looking at her.

Rose shook her head. "Nothing, you just remind me of an uncle I had."

"Oh really?" he said.

She nodded. "Yeah, you two are alike in so many ways."

"Was he close?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah, he was my Dad's brother. After he died, he looked after Mom and me until I was nine." She explained. "He was working at a construction site. I wasn't given the whole story by my mom but, I do know that someone lost control of a crane and he was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Sorry to hear that kid." Cid said.

"Thanks."

"How do you like our world so far?" Cid asked, deciding to change the subject.

"I love it. It's so beautiful." She answered. "But I know that this is just the beginning. There is so much more that I want to see here."

"You're going to have to tell us about that later cause this is your stop." Cid said.

"Already?"

"Yeah, even though it's called the city of Edge, it really isn't a city yet." Cid explained. "I'll see you two a little later."

"Yeah, we'll see you in a bit." Vincent replied as they got out with their things.

They walked up the stoop and Vincent unlocked the door. They walked into a small hallway. To the left was stairs leading up and to the right was a doorway. Rose followed suit when Vincent set his things down and walked to the end of the hallway near the doorway and took off his boots. He also hung up his cloak on the coat rack that was on the wall there.

Vincent faced her after doing this. "Would you like a tour?"

"Yeah, that would be great." She answered.

Vincent decided to start out downstairs since they were already there. He led her through the doorway into a living room. There was a three sectional couch along with a coffee table and a cabinet that contained his T.V. There were two doorways from there, both of them along the left wall. He took her through the one that was farthest from them. That one lead into a kitchen with a good sized table that could seat up to six people, a two door fridge, a double sink as well as a dishwasher, and an oven. There was a door that was to the back to the right that led to an enclosed back porch that had the washer and dryer.

There was a doorway that led to the backyard, but he decided to show her that in a day or two. He led her back to the living room and took her through the doorway that was next to the one they had gone through. It led into a larger room that contained a single grand piano that was off center in the middle of the room.

There was another doorway straight ahead. That led to a cozy guest bedroom with a small hall that led to a full bathroom. He then led her back to the front hall and up the stairs. At the top there was a spare bedroom to the right that was empty. There was a small hall that led to the left and right. To the right there was the master bedroom along with a master bath and at the end of the hallway to the left was a study. There was a single large desk at the back of the room facing the door and the whole left wall was a bookshelf filled with books.

"How do you like it?" Vincent asked, a little nervous as to what her answer would be.

"I really like it. It's cozy. Not to large, but not to small either." She answered as they walked back downstairs to get their things.

"Weren't you thinking of me living in a different place?" he asked.

'_**Why can't you ever be happy with honest answers from her?**_'

"I never really thought about it. But there have been theories that perhaps you lived in the Shinra Manor after Meteor Fall." She answered.

"That place is to run down to even attempt to fix up and live in." Vincent replied.

"The best thing to do is to just tear it down right?" she said as they made their way back upstairs with their things.

"Yeah, pretty much." He replied as they walked back into the master bedroom. "I just want to change really quick before going to Seventh Heaven, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Take your time." She replied as he grabbed some things and headed into the master bathroom.

When he emerged from the bathroom he was wearing dark blue jeans with a light blue button up long sleeved shirt. His right hand didn't have a glove, but his left one did without the fingers on the glove. He grabbed his black boots from his luggage and sat on the bed to put them on. Rose decided not to ask about the glove. She trusted the thought that he would tell her about that later and remove the glove.

"Ready to go? Vincent asked, standing from the bed.

"Yeah." Rose answered. She followed him out and down the street towards Seventh Heaven. She couldn't ignore the butterflies that started up in her stomach again.

When they arrived at Seventh Heaven, they didn't go into the front door to the bar area like Rose had expected that they would. Instead they went down the side of the building to a door there. Vincent knocked on the door, and after a moment a young lady with dark brown hair answered the door.

"Vincent, please come in." she said, stepping back to let the two in. "And you must be Rose right? Cid has told me and Shera about you. I'm glad I get to meet you so soon. I'm Tifa by the way."

"Yes, I'm Rose. I'm glad to meet you too Tifa." Rose replied. "So Cid really did marry Shera?"

"How do you know that?" Tifa asked.

"You do know about Square Enix creating the story of Meteor Fall into a game. That's how she knows." Vincent explained.

"Oh, I see. That would make sense. Square Enix did create and sell that game for your planet." She said with a smile. "Well, let's not stand around here talking, please make yourselves at home." She led them into the living room. "I believe the kids are in the backyard with her right now Vincent. They shouldn't be too much longer."

Rose was about to ask who Tifa was talking about with 'her' but didn't get a chance.

"I don't see why I should change her every time I come back." Cid argued.

"Because your gone most of the time and you need to spend as much quality time with her as possible." Shera argued back as she and Cid came into the living room. She was carrying a baby that appeared to be around three or four months old.

"And changing her is spending quality time with her?" he asked.

"Yes. Any time you spend with her is quality time." She answered, and then she saw the two new comers. "Vincent, it's good to see you're back safe. You must be Rose that Cid told us about. I would shake your hand but my hands are a little full."

"Oh, no your fine." Rose said, approaching her to see the baby. "Oh my goodness. Aren't you a cutie?" she said as she gazed at the brown haired and blue eyed girl.

"She has her father in her doesn't she?" Shera said with a smile.

Rose looked at Cid then the baby before answering Shera. "Yeah, but she's cuter."

Tifa clamped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

"Har, har." Cid said before leaving the room to go outside, for a cigarette Rose figured.

"What's her name?" Rose asked after Cid had left.

"Cynthia Jane Highwind." Shera answered.

"That's a pretty name." Rose said.

"Do you want to hold her?" Shera suddenly asked.

Rose quickly looked up at her. "I-I don't have any experience with babies."

"It's not that hard, we'll help you." Tifa said, approaching her.

With Tifa's help and a little encouragement from her and Shera, Rose was holding little Cynthia. Vincent watched on from where he was. Somehow he couldn't help but think that it looked natural for her.

'_**I'm sure she would be more than happy to have your litter.**_' Chaos said to that thought process.

Vincent mentally sighed. He hadn't really thought about having kids, but perhaps Rose would…

His thoughts were interrupted by younger voices coming from the den area where the door to the backyard was.

"Vincent!" Marlene greeted when she saw him. She ran up to him and hugged him about the waist. "When did you get back?" she asked, detaching herself from him.

"A little over a day ago." He answered.

"How was your trip?" Denzel asked, from the doorway.

"It was interesting. That world really isn't that different from ours."

"Cool." Denzel said.

"I'm sure he'll be more than glad to tell you all about it Denzel, but let him get settled back home before he does that." Tifa said.

"Ok. I guess you're here for Dixie aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, she was one of the main reasons I came here." Vincent answered.

"We'll go get her." Marlene said.

"Marlene, we're going to be having dinner soon. Leave her outside for now." Tifa said.

"Dixie?" Rose asked.

"Vincent's dog." Shera said, taking Cynthia back.

"Yeah, the stray dog that Yuffie begged Vincent to take in because she 'felt sorry for the poor thing.'" Cid explained as he came back in. "Tifa, Cloud's back. He's parking the motorcycle right now."

"Alright, thanks Cid." Tifa said. "Why don't you two stay for dinner tonight?"

"We don't want to impose." Vincent said.

"No, it's fine. You two won't have anything there anyway." Tifa said. "I made more than enough for everyone here."

"She always does Vincent please stay." Cloud said from the doorway. "Welcome back."

"Thank you Cloud." Vincent replied.

"If you need any help with dinner, I would be more than happy to help you." Rose said.

"Oh you don't have to. I'm just making tacos, I can handle it." Tifa said.

"Please let me help. Your letting us stay and eat with you." Rose pressed.

"Well, okay if you really insist on it." Tifa said. "Thanks."

After dinner Vincent thought that it would be best that they head back since it was already dark. Denzel brought in Dixie who came bounding into the living room. Her tail started wagging furiously when she saw Vincent, but she sat obediently for him, her tail still wagging.

Rose approached the dog and held out her hand for her to sniff. Dixie's tail stopped wagging momentarily to sniff her hand, but her tail started wagging again soon after. "Aren't you a pretty girl?" Rose said scratching her behind the ears. She took a moment to really look at Dixie. She was all black but there was a spot on her chest that was white along with the toes on her front paws. "How old is she?"

"She's ten months old." Vincent answered.

"Wow, no wonder your energetic." Rose said to Dixie as she continued to scratch her head.

Dixie looked up at Vincent as he put the leash on her. "Yes, you're coming home now."

"Vincent before I forget, I did clean your bedroom and put clean sheets and blankets on your bed when I heard you were home." Tifa said.

"Thank you Tifa." He replied.

"Bye." Rose said as they headed towards the door. "Thanks again for dinner."

"You're welcome and you can come by any time." Tifa said.

"I'll see you later Vincent." Cloud said as they left.

"I never would have guessed that Cloud and Tifa got married." Rose said on the walk home.

"Yes. They got married not to long after Meteor." Vincent replied.

Rose looked down at Dixie who was sniffing at the sidewalk but wasn't trying to pull Vincent along. "So, what are the rules with her? What is she allowed to do, have, etc.?"

"She isn't allowed in the bedroom when I'm or we're sleeping, she's not allowed on the furniture including the bed, and she only eats twice a day." He explained.

"Simple enough." Rose said.

When they got home, Vincent allowed Rose to use the bathroom first to shower if she wished. He was thankful that Tifa had cleaned the room and changed the bed sheets for them so they wouldn't be sleeping in dust. Once Rose had finished he went ahead and took a shower himself before turning in. When he came out of the bathroom, he found Rose on top of the covers instead of in the bed.

"I thought you were going to go to bed." Vincent said.

"I…did." She replied.

"But you're lying on top of the covers."

Rose sat up and hesitated on what she wanted to tell him. She didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want to keep secrets from him either. She shed her insecurity and told him the truth.

"Whenever Bradley…afterwards I always felt that the sheets were dirty, even when they really were clean. I just had the habit of sleeping on the bed instead of in it." She explained. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"No." Vincent said approaching her. "It's understandable. You have nothing to apologize for."

She nodded at his understanding. She hesitated again, but she stood up and pulled the covers back and got into them along with Vincent. She fell asleep not to long after her head hit the pillow.

_A/N: I know I didn't include Cloud a whole lot in this chapter, but he and the others will be making more frequent appearances as the story progresses. Yes, I did give Cid and Shera a baby and yes I did make Cloud and Tifa married to each other. There will be another surprise later in the story as well, but I don't want to give anything away so I'm going to stop talking. Again, I'm so sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I feel so bad for making you guys wait on this. Please leave your reviews. I would really appreciate them._


	11. Shopping, Job and Piano

_Hey, I'm here with another chapter. I'm sorry for making you guys wait again. A muscle in my left shoulder and left side of my neck was hurting and I didn't feel like updating. I'm happy to say that I am feeling better and able to give you another chapter. Another AVALANCHE member will be making an appearance. Can you guess who before you get there? Anyway, on with the chapter, enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 10 Shopping, Job and Piano

Vincent had woken up early as he usually did. He knew he had cleaning that needed to be done. He was going to hold off on the upstairs since Rose was still sleeping. He didn't want to leave the house either and leave Rose alone to go grocery shopping, especially since she was still asleep. He was halfway cleaning through the kitchen when Tifa came by to drop off some breakfast food for the two of them. He put it in the fridge for later and continued cleaning. Once he was done in the kitchen he went upstairs to check on Rose. It was nine, but he let her continue to sleep.

It was going after ten when Rose finally did wake up. She forced herself to get out of bed. She walked into the bathroom and washed her face, brushed her teeth and hair. She then put on blue jean shorts and a short sleeved pretty light green shirt. After she finished getting dressed she put her hair up in a pony tail.

She walked out of the bathroom and walked to the bed and made it. She wasn't too comfortable with the idea of sleeping in the bed, but she hoped that feeling would soon pass. Once she finished that she started towards the door, but stopped when she heard something. She cocked her head to the side when she saw a shadow of a nose under the door and figured out that the noise she heard was sniffing. The dog was actually sniffing under the door.

She walked out of the room and was instantly greeted by Dixie who was wagging her tail furiously. "Good morning to you to." Rose said as she closed the door behind her. "Where's Vincent, huh?" she asked as she walked down the stairs with the dog.

When she came into the living room, he was moving the last piece of the sectional couch together. "Trying to rearrange furniture?"

Vincent quickly turned to the doorway. "I didn't wake you did I?"

She shook her head. "I woke up on my own." She said with a yawn. "You should have woken me up. I would have helped you clean."

"It's not a big deal." He said. "Tifa dropped off some food if you want me to cook breakfast."

"Nah-uh. You started cleaning without me, I'm cooking breakfast." She interrupted. She headed towards the kitchen before he could even begin to protest.

He followed her into the kitchen where he watched her get out eggs, bacon and batter for pancakes. When she started struggling to find the frying pan and griddle, he helped her out by showing her where they were along with a turner.

"How do you like your eggs?" she asked, as she stirred up the pancake batter a little.

"Scrambled will be fine." He said as he laid the bacon in the frying pan.

"Vincent! I'm supposed to be cooking!" Rose playfully hollered.

"You're going to be helping me later with the rest of the cleaning, it's only fair." He teased back as the bacon began to sizzle.

She gave him a playful glare before turning back to the griddle to start the pancakes. "Fine." She grumbled in defeat.

The cleaning of the, guest bedroom and bathroom, the piano room, and two rooms upstairs didn't take as long with the two of them working together. Rose sat down on the couch in the living room when they finished.

"I cannot remember a time in my life that I dusted so many books." She said.

"Sorry, it's works and information that I've gathered in my travels around the planet." Vincent replied sitting next to her.

"So, do you play?" she asked, nodding towards the doorway that led to the piano room.

"Yes, a little bit. I don't play as much as I used to when I was younger." He answered.

"I'd like to hear you play sometime." She said

"Do you play?" he asked.

Rose didn't get a chance to answer when they heard yelling from outside.

"Vincent!"

Rose looked at him. "That has to be Yuffie."

"Your assumption is correct." He said standing. He wasn't sure if he had unlocked the front door or not. The answer came when she came bursting into the room and nearly tackled Vincent to the floor in a hug.

"Cloud just told me that you were home. When did you get back? How was your trip? Was the planet interesting?" she babbled.

"One question at a time please, Yuffie." Vincent replied.

Yuffie disengaged herself from him and noticed Rose sitting on the couch. "Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had company."

"It's fine." Rose said.

"Yuffie, this is Rose. She actually came home with me from her planet." Vincent said.

Her eyes rounded in momentary shock before looking at Rose. "That's so cool."

Rose blinked in surprise. "I was not expecting that reaction."

"How different is our world from yours? How similar is it?" she asked.

"As far as I've seen, it's very similar, but I haven't actually gone out to explore and see things yet." Rose answered.

"Then you've got to go out. You probably want more clothes, makeup, maybe a swimsuit." Yuffie began to babble as she took out her cell phone and started clicking on the buttons.

"No Yuffie, I don't want to drag Vincent out for that." Rose tried to protest.

"Rose, Yuffie's right. You do need more clothes than what you have with you now and you can get makeup if you want." Vincent said. "We have to get groceries anyway."

"It's settled. Tifa's coming and we're going to take you shopping." Yuffie said.

"I don't have any money to pay for it." Rose said.

"Don't worry about it. We can pay for it." Yuffie replied.

"You don't take a guy makeup shopping. A friend and I learned that the hard way." Rose argued.

"Vincent will be fine. He's very resilient." Yuffie replied.

Rose couldn't help but laugh at that. A couple of minutes later Tifa arrived with her car and they went to the nearest store to buy clothes and makeup. Rose started browsing for the warm season they were currently in. She had decided to buy clothes for the other seasons when she could afford them. Hopefully she would have a job by then and wouldn't have to rely on everyone else to buy them for her.

"Is the material any different?" Yuffie asked after about an hour of choosing outfits.

"I feel some difference, but there really isn't that much of a difference here than from my home planet. It seems….softer or something." Rose answered.

After Rose had assured them she had enough clothes they moved onto the makeup section. When they got there, Rose seemed a little lost as to what foundation she should get.

"Judging by your skin tone, I would say this foundation would be the best for you." Tifa said, after seeing how confused Rose was. "And this eye shadow and lipstick will go with most of the outfits that you have. When you get more formal clothes, I'll come back here with you and we'll get more makeup."

"Listen to Tifa, she knows what she's talking about." Yuffie said. "She taught me things about makeup I didn't know about till after she dolled me up one day."

Rose nodded. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

She moved onto the nail polish. She looked through the different colors and by judging on whether she liked the color or not she either kept it or put it back on the shelf.

"Aren't you going to try to match it up with the outfits you have?" Yuffie asked, a little confused by her method of picking out nail polish.

"It really depends on if I like the color or not and depending on my mood that day decides on what color I want to paint my nails. I usually don't change the color until it either starts to chip or I get really tired of the color." Rose explained as she chose a few more colors. "Okay, I'm done here."

"And Vincent survived!" Yuffie cheered.

"Barely." Rose teased, giving Vincent a small smile.

"Come on. Let's get this paid for so we can get groceries." Vincent said.

When they went to the grocery store, Rose was surprised that it really didn't look all that different from the ones at home.

"So, where did you work when you met Vincent?" Tifa asked, trying to start a conversation as they shopped.

"I worked at Best Buy. It's an electronic store." Rose answered.

Yuffie stopped dead in her tracks. "We need to get you a cell phone!"

"Yuffie, I'm sure I can survive for a while without a cell phone." Rose said.

"Then how am I supposed to get in contact with you when Vincent isn't around?" she asked.

"We'll get her one as soon as we're done here." Vincent said. "I think it's a good idea that we get you one right away anyway."

Rose sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, knowing she won't be able to argue her way out of it.

It had been a couple of weeks and Rose was almost completely settled in. She slowly warmed up to the idea of sharing a dresser with Vincent, but she still had to make herself get into the bed to sleep but only after Vincent had gotten into it. She learned to use her phone very quickly which was surprising to Vincent, but at the same time wasn't. She had worked in an electronic store after all and was receiving texts seemingly nonstop from Yuffie.

He had a meeting with Reeve that day at the WRO and he was still uncomfortable with leaving Rose home alone, even though Seventh Heaven was right down the street. Besides, he may have a job opportunity lined up for her.

"You didn't have to drag me with you. I would have been fine at home." Rose said as they drove through the rough terrain to the WRO headquarters.

"I know, but I'm still not comfortable with leaving you alone." He replied.

"…We're going to have to get comfortable with that sooner or later Vincent. You can't be with me all the time. We both need to realize that."

"…..I know. I'm just not comfortable with leaving you alone since this world has monsters that yours doesn't. It can be dangerous at times." He said. "If you were willing to learn to have some means to defend yourself, I would be more comfortable with leaving you home alone."

"I actually wanted to talk to Tifa about that. She's a martial artist and I was hoping to learn how to fight from her." Rose replied. The martial arts had always interested her, even when she was young.

"Good." He said, sparing her a glance before turning his attention back to driving. "I'm sure Tifa would be more than happy to teach you."

Rose nodded with a smile before turning her attention back forward.

'_**Are you sure you want her to learn?**_'

'What do you mean? Of course I want her to learn.'

'_**Are you sure you wouldn't have a problem with it?**_'

'Why would I?'

'_**She learns to defend herself, she won't need you to protect her all hours of the day. Are you sure you can handle that?**_'

'If I don't allow her to learn and I try to protect her all the time, she would most likely push me away. I don't want that to happen. It would be good for her to learn.'

'_**Good. I'm glad you understand that. You don't need to fuck up this relationship.**_'

Chaos was silent for the rest of the ride.

"Is that all you know about the situation?" Vincent asked.

"Yes. People have been disappearing from different places and they haven't been found or heard from sense." Reeve explained. "The WRO is conducting an investigation, but so far we haven't been able to find anything. Once we find out what is going on and what we're up against, I will be giving you, Cloud and the others a call."

Vincent nodded. "I know you'll keep us up to date with what is going on."

"I have already spoken to Cloud about it and he asked me to pass it along to you and a few others." Reeve said. "That is all I have to tell you unless something else comes up."

"I actually wanted to ask. Have you had any luck in finding a replacement for the person who quit in the development department? The one who helped design the buildings?" Vincent asked.

"No I haven't had any luck so far." Reeve answered.

"Rose actually has a degree from her home planet for drafting and design. She may be able to fill that position." Vincent explained.

"Really? I would like to speak with her and evaluate her ability if I could." Reeve said.

"She is with Yuffie right now. I'll go get her." Vincent said, leaving the room.

"What are these called again?" Yuffie asked, as she folded up the paper for the hundredth time.

"Origami Ninja Throwing Stars." Rose answered as she finished folding her paper. "My mom taught me how to do this because I was a ninja for Halloween one year and I wanted plastic throwing stars, but we couldn't find them anywhere. We had a lot of fun making around three dozen of these."

"Did you throw them at anyone?" she asked.

"Yeah, just not very hard because the points can hurt." Rose answered. "Wo-cha." She said, throwing one. Vincent chose that moment to come through the door and was hit with the paper star. "Vincent, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. I didn't know you were coming through the door."

"It's fine. It was an accident." He assured her, before picking up the star and approaching them. "I came to get you Rose. Reeve wanted to speak to you." He said, tossing the star back onto the table.

"What for?" Rose asked, grabbing her attention immediately.

"He may have a job for you." Vincent answered, beckoning her to follow him.

"What kind of job?" she asked, following him out of the room and down a hallway.

He looked at her. "The one you have a degree for. Drafting and design."

"But, that's not for this planet though." She replied.

"You can learn about the buildings here and then you'll be able to work. Reeve is willing to see your abilities and work with you. You're being given a chance here, you should take it. Nobody will be holding you back this time." Vincent said.

"You told him about my degree, didn't you? You're the only one here who knows about that." She said.

He nodded. "Yes, I did mention it to Reeve."

"Then you helped me get this job." She leaned up and gave him a light kiss. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The first thing Reeve asked Rose to do was a rough sketch of an office building that a customer could possibly be interest in. He was impressed at how quickly she thought of an idea and started sketching it. He became even more impressed with her work when she was also writing notes on the building as she sketched it. The notes contained outdoor paint color, types of windows, possibly how many floors could be added or removed if they wanted a bigger or smaller building, and she also added plants to her finished sketch to make it look more appealing.

"This is…quite impressive." Reeve said, as he looked over her work. "You won't be able to use these materials that you are familiar with."

"Yeah, I know." Rose replied. She was in high spirits since there was someone who appreciated her work.

"I do have a few books that you could read up on that will help give you a better understanding of the materials we use and the styles of the buildings. When you understand that, then I think you'll be able to work for us." Reeve said.

"Wha-really?" she asked.

"Yes. Somebody quit working here a while back and I think you'll be able to fill in the position nicely." Reeve answered. "I know it's unrealistic to think that you could come here every day to work, so you can be given materials until you can buy them yourself and you will be able to work at home. When you have completed works, you can bring them here for me to inspect."

"Thanks Reeve. I really appreciate you giving me this job." Rose said, her spirits rising even higher.

Soon afterwards, they drove home. Yuffie was doing some training at the WRO, or Rose would have wanted to hang around with her a while longer. Vincent had let her to stay at home while he ran to Seventh Heaven to drop off some music notes for Marlene. He had been teaching her how to play the piano and she was progressing with it quite well. Plus he wanted to talk to Tifa about possibly training Rose in the martial arts.

Tifa was surprised when she answered the door. "Vincent, come on in. Where's Rose?"

"She's at home. She convinced me that Dixie is with her and she'll be fine." He answered. "I came to drop these off for Marlene."

"Oh, okay thank you." She said, taking the sheet music. "So is Rose settling in alright?"

"Yeah, she's getting there." He answered. "I also wanted to ask you about something."

"Sure go ahead."

"Rose would like to know how to defend herself and fight should the situation ever arise, and I'm sure Cloud has told you about the investigation Reeve is currently conducting with the WRO." Vincent said.

Tifa nodded. "Yeah, about the disappearances."

"Rose would like to learn about the martial arts and we were hoping you would teach her." He said. "I think it would be a good thing for her to learn as quickly as she possibly could, due to the circumstances that are taking place now."

"Yes I would love to teach her. Yuffie actually texted me saying that she wanted to teach her how to use the throwing stars that she uses. She told me that they made origami throwing stars and her aim is very accurate, so we may both be teaching her." She replied.

Vincent nodded. That might be a good idea. "Alright. I'll let you two contact her to set up a schedule to start training."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to talk to Yuffie and we'll work something out Vincent." She said.

Vincent left shortly after. He took his boots off at the coat rack, like he normally did and turned to go into the living room, but stopped when he heard music….piano music? He walked into the piano room and saw Rose sitting on the bench and was playing a quiet melody. Dixie was snoozing on the floor nearby. When he sensed the ending of the song was near he approached her.

"You play beautifully." He said after the last notes had been released on the piano keys.

She jumped when he spoke to her, startling Dixie out of her sleep. When she saw it was only her master she laid her head back down.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." He said.

"No, I should be sorry. I should have asked your permission first." She said, looking at the piano then up at him.

"You can play anytime you want. You don't need my permission." He replied, tucking a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear. "Who taught you to play?"

"I had private lessons. My mom wanted to encourage my singing as a child and she had me take piano lessons. Strange that I hated it in the beginning but enjoyed it as a young teenager and now as an adult." She explained. "After mom died, he got hold of most of my music notes and sold them along with the piano. He didn't want to hear the noise I could make anymore. That was when I was fifteen. I was able to hide some music that I might have forgotten that is a bit important to me and are here with me."

"You haven't played since?" he asked.

Rose shook her head. "No. I'm quite surprised that I remembered that though."

"What song was that?" he was genuinely curious.

"That was Pathetique, second movement in A flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven." She answered. "He went deaf, but he was still able to create beautiful pieces like that just by feeling the vibrations."

"Wow." He replied.

"Yes, very big wow." She agreed with a smile.

"Could I possibly hear you play another piece?" he asked.

She smiled with a light blush dusting her cheeks as she proceeded to play her and her mother's favorite song by Beethoven, Moonlight Sonata.

_A/N: This chapter is finally done, woo! Again I'm so sorry about being so late on this. I just didn't feel like writing with my muscles hurting like they were. I'm better so I'm able to continue writing, that's what really counts, right? I thought the title to this chapter was a little lame, but I couldn't think of anything else to call it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Please leave your reviews!_


	12. Surprises

_I'm back with another chapter. Things have started to happen in the last chapter, but the ball isn't going to start rolling quite yet, but we'll get there. The surprise will be revealed in this chapter. I hope you guys will be as surprised as I was when the thought came to me. Okay, that's enough of my babbling. Enjoy the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 11 Surprises

July slipped into August and before Rose knew it, it was nearly September. The leaves on the trees would be changing colors soon and she couldn't wait to see that happen. Fall was one of her favorite seasons, winter being her second favorite. She was happy that she had a job and was able to get the clothes she needed for the upcoming season herself. She wanted to start saving for a means of transportation so Vincent wouldn't have to drive her everywhere, but he assured her he could drive her until she was able to get her own car. She was also happy with how well her training was going with Tifa and Yuffie. She had her first sparing match with Tifa not too long ago and was happy that she went home not to sore from it.

She was sitting out on the deck in the back yard. It was really beautiful out there. She loved sitting out there to work or just to sketch, another past time that she found she still loved. The deck was attached to the enclosed back porch and next to the deck was a small flower bed. There was grass everywhere with a couple of trees for extra shade for Dixie when she spent her time out there in the summer. There was a wooden fence surrounding the place for privacy and to keep Dixie from running off.

She was actually sniffing around the yard. Rose jumped when she suddenly started barking….at nothing. She started running in a large circle in the yard, slowed to a walk to sniff at the ground and started barking again. She then proceeded to run in a large circle around the yard in the opposite direction, slow to a walk to sniff the ground and repeated the process.

"Dixie, what are you doing? Goofball." Rose said, after watching her do this for the fourth time.

Dixie didn't answer, but continued to sniff the ground, bark and then run in circles.

"What is she barking at?" Vincent asked as he came out onto the deck. He had heard her barking from his study in the house.

"I don't know. She's been doing this for a few minutes now." Rose answered, gesturing towards the dog.

She stopped to sniff around the base of one of the trees, then laid down in the shade and started panting.

"That's what you get for running around like a fool, you crazy dog." Rose playfully scolded her.

"Were you almost done with work?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah, I was just taking a small break." Rose replied. "I needed to let my creative juices start to flow again."

"Tifa and Yuffie are going to be at the WRO when you hand in your work today. Are you going to be up for training?" he asked.

"Yeah." She answered. "I'm not nearly as sore as I was a couple of days ago." She closed her sketch book and stretched a little before standing up. "Dixie, come on in and get some water."

She perked up when she was called and came trotting through the yard to the deck.

"Crazy dog." Rose said as the three of them walked back inside.

"Has anything turned up in the investigation that Reeve and the WRO are conducting?" Rose asked as they drove to the said headquarters.

Vincent shook his head. "The disappearances have slowed, but the victims have yet to be found."

"Something or someone is bound to show up. They can't stay hidden for long." She replied.

"Yes, it's just finding them is the problem right now." He said as they pulled into the building of the headquarters.

"I'm sure something will come up soon." Rose said.

"Hopefully. You concentrate on this meeting right now. You'll be meeting the client today. Good luck." Vincent replied.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll see you later." She said. Rose leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car. She grabbed her briefcase from the back and headed inside.

Vincent sat there a little stunned. Even after she had disappeared inside he still sat in his car.

'_**Are you actually going to get out of the car, or are you going to wait for someone to come find you?**_'

After Chaos had snapped him out of it did he actually get out of the car and head inside himself. He was meeting with Cloud, Tifa and Yuffie about the next step in Rose's training.

Rose hurried down the corridor of the WRO, heading towards one of the conference rooms to meet with the client. She had not been told who it was, but she did know it was someone important to want to meet with her personally on this project after her sketching was finished. When she reached the conference room she found Reeve at one end of the long table talking to Rufus Shinra. He had two of the Turks with him one was a man with long black hair and the other a woman with blonde hair.

Reeve stood when Rose entered the room. "Rose, welcome. You already know Mr. Shinra of course. These two are his Turks, Tseng and Elena. You probably already knew them already."

"Yeah, I do." She replied.

"Why am I not surprised?" Said a voice from her right.

She turned her head to the right to see Reno standing on that side of the door. She turned to the left to see Rude standing on the other side.

"Sorry babe, but it's only a precaution." Reno said, holding his hand out for the briefcase.

She handed it over with a small sigh. "Why would I want to kill a client?"

"I'm sure you can understand there are still people who wish to see me dead." Rufus said from his seat at the table.

"Understandable." Rose replied.

"Please empty your pockets and give me your jacket for inspection." Rude said.

Rose gave him her business suit jacket and proceeded to empty her pockets. They only contained her cell phone, a key and a couple of bobby pins.

"Nothing dangerous here sir." Rude said, giving Rose back her belongings and jacket.

"And only sketches, a ruler and a couple of pencils in here." Reno informed closing the briefcase and handing it to her.

"Very well." Rufus said.

"You may come sit down now Rose." Reeve beckoned to her.

Rose stayed professional as she gave her pitch and presented the sketches of an to Shinra. It only took around an hour to get through everything.

"If there is anything that you want changed, there's no reason that can't be done." Rose finished.

Rufus continued to look at her work for a few more minutes before speaking. "Everything seems to be in order. I have to say that I'm impressed."

"Thank you, sir." Rose replied.

"Since everything is of satisfactory we'll begin work immediately." Reeve said.

"Yes." Rufus said, standing from his chair.

"I'm glad we were able to do business with you." Reeve said.

Rufus simply nodded before leaving the room with his Turks.

Reeve turned his attention to Rose after they left. "Good work."

"Thanks Reeve." She replied.

"I'll take these so we can get started on plans for his new office. I'll give you your next assignment when I get it." He said. "I'm sure you want to meet with Tifa and Yuffie for training."

"Thanks Reeve. I'll see you later." She said. She left the conference room and headed to the locker room connected to the training room to change for her training with Tifa and Yuffie.

Rose's training had gone well. Her blocking abilities, speed and reflexes had improved from when she had her last training with them. After her basic training had finished, they gave her bracers for her arms that were lined with spikes for extra damage that she could cause when the enemy was in close quarters. They also gave her the basic understanding of how to use materia and gave her thunder, ice and cure to start her off with. She was allowed to keep them to practice with and would be introduced to more materia that was more powerful when she got more experience with them.

"I'm sure Vincent won't have a problem with taking you outside of town to give you more experience and practice with them." Tifa said.

"I'm really impressed with how you had placed your materia. You already do know quite a bit from the game." Yuffie said.

"Miss materia queen over here." Tifa teased.

"Yeah. She stole all of my materia I worked so hard to gather and level up and ran off with it to Wutai." Rose replied.

"They put that in the game?" Yuffie asked, her cheeks turning a little red.

Rose nodded. "Yes they did."

"I'm never gonna live that down am I?" she asked.

"Nope." Tifa and Rose said in unison. They both looked at each other and laughed.

"I know Vincent is waiting for you along with Cloud. He wanted to talk to you." Tifa said, after the laughter had subsided.

"Yeah, I just want to take a quick shower and change first." Rose said.

She headed towards the locker room to take one, like she always did. When she had finished she reached for the knobs to turn the water off, but she ended up putting a hand to the side of the stall and the other grabbed her lower abdomen. A sharp pain went through that area of her body, but it left as soon as it came. Rose didn't think anything of it. She had probably hurt something during training. She wrapped up her shower quickly, not wanting to keep Vincent and Cloud waiting.

When she emerged from the locker room her hair was damp, but it wasn't soaked. Tifa, Yuffie, Cloud and Vincent were standing off to the side close to another door when she approached them. "You wanted to speak to me Cloud?"

He turned when she spoke to him. "Yes. I heard that your training was coming along well with Tifa and Yuffie and I wanted to ask you. If you wanted to, I could also teach you how to use the sword. It would be another weapon and fighting ability added to your arsenal."

Rose paused before answering. "I have been thinking about it, but I'm not sure yet."

A figure walked through the door as Cloud spoke again. "I won't be here all the time, but I would be able to teach you."

"Or perhaps I could help train you when Cloud isn't here. I could take over till he got back."

Her attention was brought to the figure walking towards them from the doorway he had just come from. Yuffie started giggling as Rose's eyes widened a little and her mouth gaped open. She was actually looking at the man who was the villain in the game she loved so much.

"You must be surprised to see me, but I had to come meet the newest member of AVALANCHE." Sephiroth said.

Rose continued to stare at him for a moment before gathering herself enough to speak. "According to Square, you were defeated at the crater to the north and supposedly died."

"I hope not." Said a woman as she walked through the same door.

"…..And now I find out that my best healer in my party is actually still alive." Rose said. "Wait, you can do that without materia, right?"

"What exactly do you mean?" Aerith asked with a small smile.

"Well, heal without having to use materia. In the game you're a healer. Holy Gospel alone is able to bring everyone in the party during battle to full health and magic points." Rose explained. "I don't even know if you guys can really do stuff like that, or if it was only for the game."

"Each of us has their special abilities, whether it's an attack or not." Cloud replied.

"You just have to find it." Aerith added.

"I'm from another planet. Will that make a difference with me?" Rose asked.

"It shouldn't." Vincent answered.

"Yes. You're from a different planet, but your energy is not that different from our own." Aerith said.

Rose thought about that for a minute. "So, every planet has its own lifestream and each of us has a current within us like the lifestream of the planet?"

"Now how do you know that just from the Final Fantasy Seven game?" Yuffie asked.

"Well, Bugenhagen spoke of it and demonstrated it in the game, Vincent mentions each of us having a current in our bodies like the lifestream that fights off intruders in the movie, and in the Dirge of Cerberus game Shelke gave us the memories of Lucrecia who also explains the same as Bugenhagen that she left in the virtual reality she left behind." Rose listed off.

Yuffie gave her a playful glare. "You were able to figure this stuff out just with that information?"

"Well, Square gives us the hints, you just have to know what it is you're looking for and figure out the answers to your own questions. A lot of the information I have was given to us through games, movies and written works. A lot of the things I figured out were only assumptions, but they're becoming more and more true the more I talk to you guys." She looked at Sephiroth and Cloud. "But, if Sephiroth really was a good guy, then what happened in Nibelheim?"

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.

"You're going to have to be more specific with that question. What do you want to know?" Sephiroth asked.

"Well, five years prior to the events of Final Fantasy Seven, you guys went on a mission to see what was going on at the reactor in Mt. Nibel. While you were there Sephiroth found out about the experiments, became angry at Shinra and burned down Nibelheim and killed almost all of the residents there. Then he went to the reactor to retrieve Jenova and that was where Zack and Cloud both stopped him by throwing him into the lifestream. You became trapped in crystallized mako in the crater to the north for five years absorbing the head of Jenova. It was there that you obtained the Black Materia, summoned Meteor, but was still defeated." Rose took a breath after explaining what she knew from the game.

"I did become angry with Shinra." Sephiroth said. "But I didn't burn the town to the ground or kill anyone. I abandoned Shinra and went to the reactor with the intention of destroying Jenova so Shinra couldn't do the same thing again. Cloud was given the order to stop me, but he let me go instead. All I was able to take of Jenova without rousing suspicion was her head."

"So technically, you're still on the run from Shinra." Rose replied.

"No, not since after Meteor Fall." Sephiroth corrected.

"So, if that's really what happened in Nibelheim, then how does Zack Fair fit into all of this?" Rose asked.

"There is no Zack Fair." Cloud answered.

Rose gave him a disbelieving look. "No, he was in First Class SOLDIER with Sephiroth as well as Aerith's first love."

"No Rose. Sephiroth is my first and only love." She corrected. "We were reunited not long after I met Cloud in the church in the slums of Midgar and we got married after Meteor Fall."

"…..So the original concept for you two was true and Zack was a created character." Rose said to herself. "This sucks, I liked Zack's character."

Aerith giggled a little. "Well, I just wanted to meet you really quick Rose. I have appointments that I must keep. We'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Please excuse me too. I have a few things that I need to attend to. We can talk some more tomorrow if you wish." He said, before following Aerith out of the room.

"What's going on tomorrow?" Rose questioned as they left.

"We're going to Cosmo Canyon. Barrett got done with his field work of looking for oil and he's near there. We were going to have a get together there." Tifa explained.

"I've been wanting to see Cosmo Canyon." Rose said, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Yeah, and you'll finally be able to meet Red and Barrett." Yuffie added.

"Okay, does he prefer Red Thirteen, Red or Nanaki?" Rose asked. The last thing she wanted to do was offend him.

"Red Thirteen is his code name that we call him when we're out on the field, Nanaki is his true name, but he doesn't mind us calling him Red." Tifa answered.

"Okay." Rose answered, her excitement growing.

_A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter was a little short, but I didn't want to go too far and make it really long. In the next chapter Rose will finally meet the last members of AVALANCHE, yay! What did you guys think of Sephiroth and Aerith being alive and married? That was my little surprise for the story. When that thought came to me, I was like "Oh my gosh, I gotta do that for this story!" If you guys really weren't that surprised, I'm sorry. I was when I had the idea. Anyway, please leave your much appreciated reviews, thanks!_


	13. Cosmo Canyon

_Wow, it has been a few months since I updated this thing. I am so sorry for the long wait. During this chapter my muses decided to leave me for a long while and I hope the longer chapter makes up for that. Now I'm back and hopefully I won't disappear for a long time like I have. For those of you who might have thought this story was dead, I'll assure you I would never do that. It would be unfair to you. Again, my deepest apologies for the long wait. Here's the next chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters, I'm just borrowing them. __**Warning: The end of this chapter contains a small lime scene (it's just a small squeeze though).**_

Chapter 12 Cosmo Canyon

"It's so much prettier than I thought it would be." Rose mused as she watched Cosmo Canyon come into view of the airship.

"This is just in the air. Wait till we actually get to walking around the canyon. There are a few mako caves I want to show you." Yuffie replied.

"I bet they're really pretty." Rose said.

"A couple of them are quite the hike, but it's definitely worth it." Yuffie replied.

"You do understand what crystallized mako is right?" Sephiroth asked.

"Crystallized mako is what materia is, it's just been compressed with machines creating what we use as materia. Sometimes the lifestream bubbles up from the crust of the Planet and crystallizes into natural crystal forms of mako. It's like materia, just not mechanically compressed for us to use." Rose said, recalling what she had learned from playing the game.

"She really is impressive with her knowledge." He mused.

"Yes, she is." Vincent replied beside him.

When they arrived into Cosmo Canyon they were welcomed greatly by the people who lived there. Nanaki was unable to welcome them, due to a few duties he had to attend to in the canyon. He would be able to see them later at the dinner the group would have that evening together.

"You are hyperactive right now, you know that?" Rose said to Dixie as she unleashed her when they got to her and Vincent's room. She immediately jumped up onto the bed. "I don't think so fur ball. Get down."

Dixie immediately did as she was told and curled up in her own bed once Rose set it down for her.

"Now settle down." Rose said as she scratched her behind the ears.

"She always gets that way after riding in the airship. She'll be fine in here while she settles. Come on, we'll walk around the canyon a bit before the dinner." Vincent said after putting his own things down.

"It truly is beautiful here. All the mountain formations here, it's breathtaking." She said as she walked through the canyon with Vincent.

"Yes, it is." He replied, gently taking her hand in his. He looked at her, watching how the sun reflected of her golden hair. He thought that she had always been breathtakingly beautiful. Even the first time he met her.

'_**And you wanted to stay away from her. Aren't you glad you listened to me and kept coming back to see her?**_'

Vincent mentally sighed. 'Can I ever have a peaceful thought without you ruining it?'

'_**Hmm, I don't know Valentine. Maybe if you could keep your thoughts from me, you might. But I doubt you'll ever be able to do that.**_'

Vincent turned away from Rose to hide any frustration that may have been showing on his features.

'_**Face it Valentine, we're stuck together forever. It's not like I want to be here in your body, but that's how I ended up. It wasn't my choice at the time. There was a very slim chance I could have returned to the planet with Omega, but I couldn't find it, so I'm stuck here. Bear with it like I've been trying to do.**_'

Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose. This hadn't been his choice either. He wasn't completely sure he was alive at the time this had happened. He knew that it was the Chaos gene that saved him along with Lucrecia's other efforts.

"Vincent, are you alright?"

He came out of his thoughts. "Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You just looked like someone was giving you a hard time." She answered.

'_**She's already picking up on when I'm bothering you. That's impressive.**_'

"I assure you Rose I'm fine. I'm used to his antics by now." He replied.

'_**Liar.**_'

Rose entwined their fingers together as they held hands. "I'm always here if you ever need someone to talk to. I'll listen."

They stopped walking as he looked at her. "Thank you Rose. I think I'll take you up on that offer."

"Yo! Vincent!" a voice called to them.

"That would be Barret, right?"

"Yeah." He answered. "Come on, he's a decent guy, you'll like him."

Barret met them half way on their walk over to him. "It's been a while Vincent. It's good to see you got back home safely." He said, clasping him on the shoulder.

"Yes, it's good to be back home." Vincent said.

"And you must be the young lady who stole his heart and came here with him." Barret said, turning his attention to Rose.

"Yeah, that would be me. I'm Rose, it's nice to meet you Barret." She said, extending her hand to him.

"I have to use this arm to shake your hand, is that alright?" he asked, holding up his robotic arm.

"That's just fine." She answered with a smile. She looked down at the arm in awe as they shook hands. "To think it turns into a gun when you need it to be. That's so cool."

"I guess your world doesn't have anything like this, huh?" he said.

She shook her head. "We have prosthetics, but nothing like that. This planet is much more advanced than mine, technology wise anyway."

"How do you like your new home so far?" Barret asked as they started walking again.

"I love it here. It's just beautiful. There's no other word to describe it. The games didn't do it justice." She answered.

"Yeah, Cloud told me that you've played the game by Square." He replied.

"Games actually." Rose corrected. "There was Final Fantasy Seven which is the original game, and Dirge of Cerberus which is about the Deepground incident, and Crisis Core which is supposed to take place five years prior to Final Fantasy Seven. Zack was a created character. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that."

"You haven't been homesick at all since you came here?" Barret asked.

"Well, I wouldn't say that. There are a few people that I miss, a couple of them I've been missing for a few years now."

"Close people who have passed away?" he asked.

Rose sadly shook her head. "No, not all of them. I'm not quite ready to tell everyone about it yet." She tucked some hair back behind her ear that the wind managed to blow into her face.

"I won't pry, but I think I'll leave you two love birds alone." He said. "I'll see you two later tonight."

"Yes, we'll see you later Barret." Vincent replied.

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you." Rose said.

Vincent and Rose continued their trek through the canyon. He gave her a glance, concerned as to how she was doing after the ending to the conversation.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She answered, brushing away a stray tear. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." He said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She hesitantly wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. Was it right that she felt so comfortable doing this so soon with Vincent? She was confused, but it felt so right.

Vincent squeezed her shoulders a little when he felt her relax a little.

'_**You should have taken my advice Valentine and killed that bastard. It's not like you would've gotten caught.**_'

'No, I don't murder in cold blood.'

'_**Oh really? Then what was it you planned on doing to Hojo on that cannon when you aimed your gun at him? You were supposed to be evacuating survivors before Meteor hit.**_'

Vincent didn't have an answer to that. He had planned to do something horrible to that man, but lightening struck before he could do anything. Hojo had disappeared and the place around him was collapsing. He didn't have time to find out the truth of what had happened to him.

'_**Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to do.**_'

Vincent looked up at the formations of the canyon and noticed that the sun had started to set behind them. It was getting late already. "We had better get back. I'm sure you will want to get ready for the dinner we're having."

Rose also looked up and noticed the sun was setting. "Yeah, you're right. We should be heading back."

Rose was told not to dress up to much, but she still wanted to look nice. She put on black dress pants with a sky blue tank top and had a silver mesh shirt over that. She wore black soled shoes that had silver straps. They had a little bit of a heel, but not much so she wouldn't be tripping all over herself. She had just finished putting on her shoes when there was a knock on the door.

"I'm decent." She answered.

Vincent walked in and his eyes widened a fraction as he took in her outfit. "You didn't have to dress up that much."

"Yeah maybe, but I still wanted to look decent." She replied as she applied some light makeup to her face.

"You still look beautiful, no matter what the occasion." He said as he approached her as she finished her makeup. He ran his fingers lightly through her hair, which she had kept down.

She blushed slightly at the compliment he gave her. When he started running his fingers through her hair, it was like a jolt of electricity had started running through her. Was this…love? The only real love she had ever felt was from her parents, but this was completely different. She realized she was holding a breath and exhaled.

"Are you alright?" he asked when he heard her exhale.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, facing him and giving him a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking at the small blush that still tinged her cheeks.

"Yes, I'm fine." She continued to smile. "We better get going before they come looking for us."

"Yes, come on, let's go." He said, gently taking her hand in his and led her to the place where they would be eating at.

'_**It would be easy to sneak out. As long as you stay quiet there won't be any echoes and they won't be able to find you.**_'

'No. We're not ready for that step in our relationship.'

'_**You never know unless you try.**_'

The place wasn't too far from where they were staying. It was just a few places down from where they were.

"See? They make a cute couple!"

'Leave it to Yuffie.' Rose thought as they walked in. It took her a moment to realize that she was blushing again.

"Rose, Yuffie has taken the time to tell me about you. It's a pleasure to meet you." Red said.

"The pleasure's all mine." She replied with a smile.

"I hope we're not having anything that's too damn fancy." Cid said from his seat at the low table. "And I want regular silverware, I don't want chopsticks."

"Oh come on Cid, chopsticks aren't that hard to use." Rose said as she took a seat next to Reeve.

"You've used chopsticks? I didn't know they had them on your planet." Yuffie said.

"Yeah, I might be out of practice, but there was a Chinese restaurant that my mom and I used to go to till it closed down." She answered.

"What are we having?" Reeve asked. "It's always different every year."

"They are preparing fried white rice and chicken with a teriyaki glaze." Red answered.

"Ooh, that sounds good." Rose commented.

"Hi. Hope we're not running late." Aerith said as she came in with Sephiroth.

"No, we're still waiting on Cloud, Tifa, Barret and the kids." Yuffie answered.

"Where's Cynthia?" Rose asked, just noticing the infant wasn't with Cid and Shera.

"She's taking a nap. One of the elders is watching her." Shera said with a smile. "Hopefully she'll sleep through the fireworks later."

"Fireworks?" Rose asked, her eyes lighting up a little.

"Yeah Cosmo Canyon always shoots them off around this time of year." Aerith said as she and Sephiroth took a seat.

"Yeah, it's kind of like saying goodbye to summer and hello to fall." Yuffie added a little sadly.

"Hey, I like fall." Rose replied. "It's my favorite season. I love watching the trees turn into all the different colors."

"But it gets cold." Marlene said as she walked in with Barret.

"Well, the Planet needs rest before it can give life again. It's all part of the process." She replied.

"I guess, but I still don't like the cold." Marline said.

"It's something we have to live with." Rose replied as Cloud, Tifa and Denzel arrived.

"We didn't keep you waiting, did we?" Tifa asked.

"Nope, we're still waiting for the food to arrive." Yuffie answered.

"Now we can open that bottle of wine now all of the adults are here." Cid said as he started working on opening it.

"Do you want a glass Rose?" Vincent asked.

"Sure, I'll have one." She answered.

"Have you ever drank before?" Cid asked as the bottle began being passed around.

"Yes I have, but I've never been drunk. This will be the third time I've drank any alcohol." She answered him.

"Did your parents let you drink?" Tifa asked.

"No. My last year in college, I turned twenty one and I drank a little while I was there." She answered. "I never saw the fun of getting drunk, passing out, throwing up in the morning and having a hangover for the rest of the day."

"I've never seen the point of it either." Vincent replied as he poured them both a glass.

"I've never even seen you get even a buzz Vincent. You should try at least get that." Cid said as he took a drink.

"A buzz isn't that special either. And before you ask, yes I have gotten a buzz, but I've never been drunk." Rose spoke again before Cid could say anything to that. "And a buzz is not being drunk."

Shera couldn't help but laugh at how Rose had told Cid off without being mean. She started laughing harder at the scowl that appeared on his face.

"Have you played the games at all since you've been here, yours and ours?" Denzel asked, trying to change the subject away from drinking.

"Yes I have actually. I've played a few of the games from here, which is quite interesting. I also restarted Final Fantasy Seven again." She answered.

"Where are you at in the game?" Sephiroth asked, his attention grabbed by this.

"I'm in Nibelheim actually." She answered. "I'm almost ready to go into the manor to meet you and get Vincent. Hojo really didn't want people to get to him though."

"How so?" Yuffie asked, genuinely curious as to how close the game was to the actual thing.

"Well, first you have to read the clues as to how to find the numbers to the safe and find the numbers, the last one being written in invisible ink. Then you have twenty seconds to put in the correct numbers without going past them. Then once you open the safe you have to fight a monster in order to get the key and Nanaki's final limit break which is Cosmic Memory." She explained. "If you're able to poison the monster, it really isn't that difficult to bring down."

"Wow, it really isn't that far off." Yuffie mused.

"Yeah, but they did away with Sephiroth and Aerith being together concept, which was the truth, and they created Zack instead." She said. "So, there were some things that didn't get put into the game due to complications with the story. I would like to know what happened during the years after Nibelheim, but I guess that's going to have to wait."

The food was being brought out to them as she finished her last statement. It took her a few tries, but she was able to remember how to use chopsticks, and was eating with everybody else.

"Rose you didn't tell us. How did you and Vincent meet?" Yuffie asked.

She looked at Vincent, as if to silently ask him if he wanted her to tell them. He gave her a slight nod to go ahead and tell them.

"I was working at Best Buy at the time. It's an electronic and appliance store. You can get refrigerators, washing machines, computers, cell phones, games, game systems, you get the idea. He was looking at some of the smaller electronics when I first met him. He said he was just looking around, but the next day he came in for a T.V. A couple of days later he came in for an adaptor for his computer and I asked him then if he wanted to go out and see the town a little. He accepted and it just took off from there." She said, trying to keep her explanation short.

"What was the first thing you thought when you first saw him? What was your first impression?" Tifa asked.

Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose at those questions. He didn't know if he wanted to know what those answers would be.

'_**Man up, Valentine.**_'

"The first thing I thought was Vincent Valentine. He looked so much like him." She answered truthfully. "And my first impression of him was he's quiet and possibly shy, but has energy."

"Wow that has to be the best first impression anyone has had of Vincent." Aerith commented.

"Have you seen his gauntlet yet?" Barret asked. People usually got apprehensive about meeting Vincent if he was wearing it.

"Yes I have, and I think it's cool." She answered. "When I had a better look at it, thanks to better graphics in the Dirge of Cerberus game, I thought it was cool then."

"What's the first place you've wanted to see since coming here?" Denzel suddenly asked.

"Am I the center of attention tonight?" Rose asked.

"Yes!" Yuffie quickly answered with a smile.

"It's the first time we've all been together since you got here. We just want to learn more about you." Aerith explained.

"Okay. The first place I wanted to come to actually was here, Cosmo Canyon." She answered.

"That's quite impressive." Cloud said.

"Yeah, I was expecting something like the Gold Saucer." Barret added.

"What's the second place?" Yuffie asked.

"Nibelheim. Literally the town where everything started." She answered easily.

"And what's the third place?" Yuffie asked.

Rose took a moment to think about that one. "Wutai. That place looks interesting and rich in culture."

"And what's the fourth place?" Yuffie persisted.

"Costa del Sol sounds like a neat place too." Rose answered.

"And the fifth?" Yuffie asked again.

"I would say…the Gold Saucer." Rose answered.

Yuffie smiled, satisfied that she now knew it was in her top five list. A young waiter then walked into the room with a small plate and placed it on the table next to Yuffie. It had an orange pepper on it.

"You're usual tradition." He said with a smile.

"I'm not eating that thing again." Cid instantly said.

"Do you really have to make someone eat one of those every year Yuffie?" Tifa asked.

"Mm-hm." She answered. With an evil smile, she pushed the plate towards Rose. "Think of it as a final initiation of coming into the AVALANCHE group."

"I'll warn you, it's a hot pepper. It's not the hottest pepper of our planet, but it's got a lot of heat to it." Sephiroth said.

"Heat as in you just want to chew it then spit it out, or you can eat it and it'll burn for a while?" Rose asked.

"It'll burn for a while." Cloud said.

Rose looked down at the pepper. "Alright I'll do it, but I want a glass of milk before I even touch this thing."

The waiter nodded still smiling and left to get the glass of milk for her.

"Rose, you don't have to do this." Cloud said.

"I've eaten hot peppers before, I know what I'm getting myself into." Rose told him, and then turned to Yuffie. "I may be courageous, but I'm not completely stupid."

"You might change your mind." Yuffie said, smiling back at her.

The waiter was back quickly, setting the glass of milk in front of Rose. She thanked him and turned her attention back to the pepper.

"You're really going to eat that?" Marlene asked.

"Yes I am." Rose answered then took a sip of milk.

Denzel leaned on the table, watching her intently.

"Rose, you don't have to do this if you don't-" Vincent was cut off by Rose placing a finger to his lips and playfully shushing him.

She picked up the pepper by the stem and bit off the pepper. She placed the stem back on the plate as she chewed. "And now to wait for the heat." She said after swallowing.

"I can't believe you just did that." Cid said.

"Life isn't fun if you don't take chances Cid." Rose replied. Her eyes widened shortly afterwards with a sharp intake of breath. "Oh wow, that was quick."

'_**That's what she said, literally.**_' Chaos sniggered. Vincent completely ignored him.

Rose knew better than to start gulping the milk. She took sips, letting it linger in her mouth before swallowing it. Her strategy was working, because the heat started to die down.

"Dying yet?" Yuffie asked with a chuckle.

Rose shook her head as she finished her milk. "It was actually really good."

Yuffie's face fell a little at that. Rose couldn't help but laugh at her.

"You thought that was good?" Cid exclaimed.

"Yeah." Rose answered with a chuckle. "If you know how to handle a pepper, you can actually enjoy them."

"You didn't even complain about how hot it was. That was really cool." Denzel said.

"I'm guessing, that Cid did?" she said, looking at him.

Shera started nodding her head behind him. When he looked at her, she stopped and smiled at him.

"You're my wife. Aren't you supposed to support me?" he asked.

"I believe the fireworks are going to be going off soon. We should head out if we want to see them." Red said, trying to avoid a fight between Cid and Shera.

"Yeah. We better get going." Yuffie agreed.

They watched the fireworks go off over the canyon. It was done so no matter where you were in the canyon, you would have a great view of them. Rose didn't know what it was, but she thought that the colors were brighter and crisper than the fireworks back at home. She rested her head against Vincent's shoulder as she watched the show. He placed his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him. Once the show ended she straightened up, and Vincent let his arm drop from her shoulders and took her hand as they headed back inside.

"I swear, the fireworks get better and better every year." Yuffie said as she settled on the couch of the room that connected all of their rooms from branching hallways.

"The colors of the fireworks are a lot prettier than the ones back home." Rose said. "Anybody mind if I let Dixie out of the room? She's been cooped up in there for quite a while now."

"No, go ahead and bring her out." Tifa said.

"Yeah, bring out who should have been named Mimi La Rue." Yuffie said.

Rose stopped in her tracks and looked back at Yuffie with a confused look. "What?"

"I wanted her to be named Mimi La Rue, but Vincent said no and named her Dixie." Yuffie explained. "I found her and couldn't name her."

"You weren't the one who was going to be taking care of her." Barret defended Vincent.

"Yeah, that name would have been a bit long to call her back to you." Rose added with a chuckle. She left the room and a minute later Dixie came bounding into the room with her. "She's hyper, I'm warning you." Her sentence died off in the end when she saw the dog lying down with her tail still wagging, looking up at Red from the floor.

"Okay Nanaki, I would like to know what you did to make her do that." Rose said.

"He doesn't do anything. She just knows to behave when she's around him." Vincent explained.

"It's the best way to explain it." Red said before gently bumping his nose against Dixie. She nuzzled him back a little before trotting into the middle of the room and lying down, her tail still wagging.

"I've never seen a dog do that before. It's…interesting." Rose said, settling down on another sofa next to Vincent.

"Red seems to have a calming effect with animals." Vincent said.

"Always have." Red added.

"Vincent, I've been having trouble reaching a note, could you help me figure it out?" Marlene asked, showing Vincent a place on the music in her piano book.

"Are you excited to see the materia caves?" Yuffie asked Rose, drawing her attention from Marlene and Vincent.

"That's right. You were going to show her them, weren't you?" Aerith said.

"Don't you ever get tired of going there and looking at those caves?" Cid asked.

"Nope, and besides Rose hasn't seen them yet." Yuffie answered.

"Yes, I'm excited to see materia in its natural state." Rose answered Yuffie's question. "It's going to be so pretty."

"I think the kids should be getting to bed. It's getting late and with school starting soon, they need to fall into a regular sleeping pattern." Tifa said.

"I agree." Barret said. "Come on Marlene, I'll tuck you in."

"Yeah, come on Denzel." Tifa added, as she stood up with Barret.

"Will you be able to help me with that part?" Marlene asked, looking up at Vincent with hopeful eyes.

He nodded. "Yes, I should be able to figure something out."

"Okay, thank you." She said before disappearing to go to bed.

"Rose, have you given any more thought about learning how to fight with the sword?" Sephiroth asked, grabbing her attention again.

"Yes I have." She answered. "I think it would be a good idea."

"First the martial arts from Tifa, throwing stars from me and now the sword from Cloud and Sephiroth." Yuffie counted off. "What's next, the gun from Vincent?"

"I've shot a gun before Yuffie, I don't like it." She answered then looked at Vincent. "No offense."

"Everybody has their preferences." He replied, still looking at the piano music.

"When did you use a gun?" Barret asked as he and Tifa came back into the room.

"I was…" she had to think a minute. "I believe I was almost nine at the time. My uncle took me and my cousin to a shooting range. We had fun, but I found I didn't like shooting a gun."

"Some things you have to grow up using." Sephiroth said.

"Come to think of it, I always favored hack and slash games than shooter games growing up." Rose said. "I always preferred being able to run up to the enemy and hacking them then standing back and shooting them. I never was good at aiming."

"You're good with the throwing stars." Yuffie chimed in.

"Well, I'm actually throwing them instead of shooting them. They will go in the general direction of where I throw them, when shooting you have to actually aim the gun." Rose explained.

"That makes sense." Tifa said.

"Since you want to learn how to fight with the sword, Sephiroth and I will take you to the weapons shop here and we'll get you fitted for one." Cloud said.

"After we go to a couple of the materia caves." Yuffie interjected.

Rose shook her head with a smile and looked over to see what Vincent was looking at with the piano music that Marlene had given him.

"What are you trying to figure out?" she asked.

"Marlene is having a little trouble reaching a note. I'm trying to figure out how she can reach it." Vincent answered.

"Which note is she trying to reach?" she asked, looking at the notes on the page.

"It's this one. It's supposed to be played with the third finger." He answered, pointing to the note in question.

Rose looked at the note and the ones after it. She then looked at the ones that came before it. "Well, if she uses her second finger on this one, then she could reach the note with her third finger and still be able to play the notes after it, then she can move her hand for the next set of notes and continue playing from there." She explained.

Vincent continued to think about what Rose had pointed. "I think that will work."

"Do you play the piano Rose?" Aerith asked.

She hesitated, her cheeks taking on a light tinge of pink. "Um…yeah." She slowly answered.

"She also has a beautiful singing voice." Vincent added, closing the piano music.

Rose's face turned a deep color of red. She bowed her head, trying to hide behind her hair.

"Rose! You were hiding talents from us?" Yuffie asked, jumping up and running over to her.

"…I don't like bragging." Rose answered, her face turning into a deeper red, if it was possible.

"It's not bragging, it's sharing." Yuffie said. "You should sing something for us."

"N..not now." She replied, feeling a little flustered at the attention she was receiving in that moment.

'_**You put her on the spot and made her uncomfortable. I hope you're proud of yourself.**_'

"Yuffie, leave her alone. If she doesn't want to sing, she doesn't want to sing." Vincent said, ignoring Chaos that had begun snickering.

She backed off a little. "Okay, but I have a challenge for you Rose."

"And what is that?" she asked, thankful that the subject had been changed, but her cheeks were still a little pink.

"For Halloween, you have to dress up as someone or a character you know from your own planet, and that excludes any of us. Also, if you haven't sung or played the piano for us by then, you have to sing something from your planet, play something on the piano or both." She said.

"Come off it Yuffie. If she's too damn shy to sing for us, then she won't play for us." Cid said.

Rose turned to look at him. "I never said I wouldn't play for you."

"Ha!" Yuffie taunted, pointing a finger at Cid.

"Could you possibly wait so Marlene could see? She always enjoys watching other people play the piano." Barret said.

"Yeah, I would be happy to play for her." She replied.

"You should play those two songs I heard you play that day I came back from Cloud and Tifa's place." Vincent said. "I think she would enjoy them."

Rose had to think a minute before it hit her as to what Vincent was talking about. "Oh! Yeah, I think she would also like the Flight of the Bumblebee too."

"The Flight of the Bumblebee?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah, it's by Nikolia Rimsky-Korsakov. It's really upbeat, fast, and really fun to play." She said.

"How many songs do you know?" Yuffie asked.

"A lot." She answered with a small stretch. "I think I better turn in to. I'll want my energy for the hike tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll get you up in the morning if you're haven't already." Yuffie said.

"Great, something to look forward to in the morning." Rose teased as she got up and started making her way to her and Vincent's room.

"You two are sharing a room?" Yuffie asked, looking between them.

Rose stopped and looked back at her. "Is that so wrong?"

"But there's only one bed in there!" she said.

"Yuffie, they're both grownups and don't need permission to share a bed." Tifa said. "It's not our business if they do."

"There just not better be any funny business done. I want to actually sleep tonight and I don't want to hear any horsing around going on next door." Cid said.

"Cid!" Shera said, slapping him in the arm once the words left his mouth.

"I don't…!" Rose stopped herself before she could say anything else. She was about to explain she didn't do that, like she did with her step-father. She shook her head to clear the thought away and left the room before questions could be asked.

"Vincent, what's going on?" Aerith asked after watching Rose leave the room.

"Something that she doesn't want to reveal to any of you yet." He said as he stood. "I suggest that you don't joke with her like that for the time being." With that he left the room as well.

When Vincent got to their room, he found Rose had already changed into her pajamas and was in the process of removing her makeup.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he entered the room.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for my reaction out there." She answered as she inspected her face in the mirror. She didn't want to miss any makeup and risk it rubbing off onto the pillows or sheets.

"Please stop apologizing. You can't help what happened to you in the past." Vincent said, approaching her.

She sighed. "I know, but I can't help but feel…" her eyes became glossed over with tears that threatened to leak out.

Vincent pulled her into a hug. "It isn't your fault." He firmly, but gently said. "Don't feel you have to explain yourself."

She nodded against his chest as he held her to him. She gave a small sigh as she relaxed against him.

"Go ahead and go to bed. I'll join you in a few minutes." He said, parting from her.

"Are you going to get Dixie?" she asked.

"No, she was falling asleep out there, she'll be fine. I'm going to change." He said, kissing her on her forehead before leaving for the bathroom to change.

'_**Awww, wasn't that cute. You're getting sweeter and sweeter Valentine.**_'

Vincent ignored him as he entered the bathroom. Once he changed and headed back to the room, he found Rose already in bed, but was sitting up as if she was waiting for him.

"You didn't have to wait for me." He said as he discarded his shirt and headed for the other side of the bed.

Rose blushed a little when he did that. She always did when she could see the muscles that the shirt usually hid. She had found that the glove he always wore actually went up to the elbow. He never discarded it, even at bed until all the lights were out and he usually was up before her, the glove already in place on his hand and arm.

"I wanted to wait up for you." She replied as he climbed into bed. She settled down into it as he turned off the lamp on the nightstand next to the bed.

In the darkness she listened to him take off the glove, as he usually did. It was always when it was completely dark when he took that glove off.

She had to wonder, what was it that he didn't want anyone to see? Was there something wrong with his hand and arm for him to want to hide it constantly? Was that also the purpose of the gauntlet besides being used as a close range weapon?

Those thoughts soon led to other thoughts.

Of course there are things that he wants to hide! You have things you want to hide Rose, everybody does…But he does know my secrets. How can he stand to even look at me, touch me, kiss me? I'm filthy…disgusting…

The tears started rolling down her face as she stared up at the ceiling through the darkness.

Vincent felt the unease next to him and turned his head to look at her. Was she…crying?

"Rose?" he softly called through the darkness. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She answered as she started to wipe away the tears.

'_**She can be a horrible liar at times.**_'

"Rose." He repeated, gently putting a hand to her face, making her look at him. "What's wrong?"

She took a shaky breath. "I don't think this is the right time and place to discuss this right now Vincent."

"Please Rose. I want to help you in any way I can." He plead with her, propping himself onto his elbow.

Rose slowly sat up as she tried to wipe away the remaining tears that stained her cheeks. She didn't say anything. She concentrated on her breathing so she wouldn't burst into tears again.

Vincent also sat up with her, and started to gently rub her back. "Rose, this isn't good for you. You shouldn't keep your emotions cooped up in you like this."

She finally looked at him since sitting up. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and looked away, not knowing how she should go about asking this.

She finally took a breath. "…..Vincent, how do I not disgust you?"

He was taken aback by this question. "Why would I be disgusted with you?"

"I'm no longer a virgin, being taken advantage of over and over…I'm filthy." She said.

"I don't care about that. What I do care about is that we both harbor feelings for each other." He said, making her turn to him. He lifted a hand to her cheek and began to caress it. "I love you Rose." He finally confessed.

'_**It's about time you told her that.**_'

Rose took in a small breath as she placed a hand on the one that was caressing her. "I also love you Vincent." She returned to him.

He felt his heart skip a beat. He never doubted that she loved him, but he felt elation now that he had confirmation. He moved closer to her and leaned in but hesitated.

She also moved in a little closer and closed the distance between them, making contact with his lips with hers.

He returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and bringing her even closer to him. Rose gave a small groan as she was pressed against him. Vincent took that as a good sign and ran his tongue along her bottom lip, asking for entrance.

She pulled back a little, unsure about the sensation that she felt with that action. She moved back closer to him, kissing him again. She parted her lips a little, granting him access into her mouth.

He slowly allowed his tongue to enter her mouth. It wasn't long till he got her tongue to dance with his. He laid her down onto her back, gently pressing her into the mattress and pillows, not once breaking the kiss.

When they parted, both of them were trying to catch their breaths. Rose felt that her face was flushed and her lips were a little puffy. When she finally opened her eyes and looked up at the figure looming above her, she didn't see Vincent anymore. She quickly tensed and started whimpering.

Vincent quickly sensed that something wasn't right with her. "Rose? Rose what's wrong?"

"Please, don't hurt me." She begged in a whimper.

"Rose, I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to assure her.

"Please, don't…" she whimpered again.

'_**It's not you she's seeing Valentine.**_'

"Rose?...Rose!" he called, gently shaking her in the process.

She finally snapped back to reality, tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry."

He cupped her cheek, gently brushing away one of her tears away with his thumb. "You have nothing to apologize for."

"I don't know if I'll ever get over this Vincent." She said, the tears still flowing.

"I'll help you any way I can." He said, settling down next to her. He pulled her into his arms. "We'll figure something out, I'm sure of it."

She nodded in his arms, feeling secure there. The tears were still flowing when she finally fell asleep.

Vincent's hold tightened a little around her. "I promise, I won't that happen to you again." He whispered to her sleeping form before falling asleep himself.

_A/N: Again, I'm so sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I was so angry when my muses just up and left me. I felt an obligation to finish this for the longest time, and I just couldn't figure out how to continue on with the chapter. Hopefully my muses won't do that again. I'm sorry to tease you with the tiny lime scene, but these two aren't ready for that step yet. They will have their scene eventually. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave your reviews!_


	14. Adventure

_I'm back with another chapter, finally! I am so sorry for the long delay again. I've been busy lately. I'm working more since I'm no longer going to school, I'm making plans to get a place with a couple of friends and plans to go to a con, Anime Central, that I'm going to at the end of this month with the same two friends has also been keeping me busy. I have been working on this chapter, and it's finally done. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters, I'm just borrowing them. _

Chapter 13 Adventure

Vincent woke up early, as he usually did. He checked on Rose to find her sleeping relatively peaceful next to him. Deciding she would be alright to be left alone he got dressed and left the room. When he walked out he was relieved to see that Yuffie was not among those that were up.

"Good morning Vincent." Tifa greeted.

"Good morning." He greeted as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"How's Rose?" she asked.

"Sleeping." He answered simply.

"Vincent…about what happened last ni-"

"I am not at liberty to say what happened with Rose." He quickly cut her off. "She will tell you when she's ready and no sooner than that."

"I understand that Vincent. I was going to say, don't you think she should possibly get some help? Aerith is a psychiatrist for the WRO soldiers, she should be able to help her. She's someone that Rose knows and will be more likely to open up and heal." She replied.

Vincent gave a small sigh. "I was going to talk to her about that. The final decision on whether she does or not is her's."

"Vincent, can I have a word with you?" came a voice from the door.

He turned to see Red standing there.

"Yes." He answered. He grabbed his mug of coffee before following him out to the next room.

"Vincent, were you planning on accompanying Rose and Yuffie to the mako caves?" Red asked as they entered the next room.

"Yes I was. I know how Yuffie can get and with the disappearances lately, it has everyone on edge. Rose doesn't have that much experience in fighting yet and I don't want her having to fight for her life right now." He answered.

Red nodded. "Yes. Also there have been some issues that have been resolved with the Red Stone Wolves. I don't want the issues to become unresolved again."

"What kind of issues?" Vincent asked. The Red Stone Wolves were always relatively peaceful creatures that lived in the canyon. He couldn't understand how there could be any issues with them.

"Their territory had been invaded by the humans who live in the canyon. They understand that it happens and won't be bothered by it as long as humans stay away from them. They can be looked upon at a distance, but they are not to be approached." He explained. "If they are approached, there will be conflict, even if the human does not mean harm."

"You want to make sure the girls don't get into trouble with the wolves." Vincent said.

"I know that Yuffie usually won't mess with them, but she can be unpredictable at times." Red said.

"Yes, she can." Vincent replied as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Why are you still in bed? We've got caves to see!"

They both turned towards the voice that was obviously Yuffie's. Not wanting her to make any trouble with Rose, Vincent made his way back to the bedroom. When he got there he saw that Rose was on the floor and Yuffie was standing over her. It was apparent that Yuffie had pulled Rose off the bed and she had tried to prevent it and only succeeded in getting the blankets and pillows pulled off with her.

"Yuffie, do you really need to try to start with Rose right now?" Vincent asked from the doorway.

"She wasn't up yet, so I thought I'd help her out." Yuffie replied with a grin.

"You do realize that this is a stone floor, right?" he said.

The grin slid off the ninja's face as she turned back to Rose. It soon turned into a playful scowl when she saw that she was cuddling with the pillow and blanket on the floor.

"You really can't be comfortable." She said.

Rose's eye cracked open before closing again. "Depends on your definition of comfortable."

"Rose!" Yuffie started to protest but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Yuffie, give her a little more time. Sometimes it takes her a while to get going in the morning." Vincent said.

Yuffie sighed. "Okay. I'll give you one more hour Rose. If you're not up by then, I'm coming back." With that she passed Vincent and left.

Vincent put his mug of coffee on the small dresser before helping Rose stand. "She didn't hurt you when she pulled off the bed, did she?"

She shook her head. "No. I'll be out in a bit. I just want to get dressed first." She said with a small stretch.

"You do have a little bit of time if you want to sleep a little longer."

She waved a hand at that. "I'm awake now anyway."

Vincent nodded as he picked up the mug again. "We'll see you shortly." He said before leaving the room and trekking back to the kitchen area.

It was only fifteen minutes when Rose appeared in the kitchen. Only minutes after Sephiroth and Cloud had.

"Good morning everyone." She greeted as she entered. "Anything I can do to help make breakfast?"

"You can scramble those eggs if you want." Tifa answered, nodding at a small bowl of eggs before turning her attention to the French toast.

"Will here be any veggies or cheese that will be added to them?" she asked as she started cracking them open.

"No. There are some people who don't like them in the eggs." Tifa answered, looking at Yuffie who was leaning against the wall.

"Come on, give me a break. Green peppers and onions in eggs is disgusting." She said.

"I used to think so to, but I grew to like them." Rose said with a smile as she started cooking.

"Wait, let me see if I've got this straight. Red is worried about the Red Stone Wolves, so he's asked you to tag along with Rose and me?" Yuffie asked as she, Rose and Vincent made their way into the canyon.

"He doesn't want to take any chances." He replied.

"This isn't fair! This is supposed to be a girl time for Rose and me." Yuffie replied, crossing her arms with a huff.

"You do have a tendency to be a little unpredictable Yuffie. That's why I'm accompanying you two." Vincent said.

"Name one time when I was unpredictable." Yuffie challenged.

"Well, there was that one time where you stole everybody's materia and ran off to Wutai with it." Rose supplied.

"I, uh, yeah, but…" Yuffie flustered.

Rose snorted as she watched Yuffie try to come up with a viable reason for her to have done that. The corners of Vincent's mouth twitched as he tried to keep himself from smiling. Rose did have a point, and Yuffie couldn't talk herself out of it. She probably never would be able to.

"Hey, come on this isn't fair! Vincent was supposed to answer that, not you!" Yuffie said, trying to regain her ground.

"Alright, you stole our materia." Vincent said.

"That's cheating! You're just repeating what Rose said!" Yuffie argued.

"Well, that was an unpredictable move on your part." Rose said. "Most of the materia I had was mastered, I was ticked when you did that."

"Well…." She thought for a minute before retorting. "You weren't there, so it doesn't count! Vincent has to think up a different scenario!"

"How about bringing attention to us?" Vincent said as he stopped. His attention was on one of the higher cliffs where a deep red colored wolf stood.

Yuffie also followed Vincent's gaze and gasped. "Oops. I didn't think I was speaking that loudly."

"This is a canyon Yuffie. Your voice will carry." He replied.

Rose was speechless as she gazed up at the wolf as it was joined by another with a cub.

"Wow." She breathed. "They're so pretty."

"Yes they are. I don't know about your world, but these guys will kill you if they feel the need to." Yuffie said as they continued to stand there, looking at them.

"These wolves are usually peacefully Yuffie." Vincent said.

"Yeah, well you didn't have the experience I did." She replied.

The first wolf they saw turned from the trio and walked off, followed by the other two.

"I wish we could have been a little closer. I would have liked to see them a little better." Rose said.

"Someday perhaps." Vincent said. "Right now, it's too dangerous."

"Well, now that they're gone, let's get going." Yuffie said enthusiastically.

They had to climb down farther into the canyon before they could get to the area to start climbing up. Yuffie wasn't joking when she told Rose that to get to the caves of Materia was a hike. She was also right that it was worth it.

"Wow, it's so beautiful." Rose said as she walked into the caves after the two. She reached out and stroked one of the crystals with the tips of her fingers. It was cool to the touch, but she also felt the power contained in it. Just like she felt with the materia she had learned to use.

"You can't find materia in its natural state like this often." Yuffie said. "This is one of my favorite caves."

"If you come into the back, you'll see why it's one of her favorites." Vincent said, beckoning her to follow them.

She did what was asked and followed. In the back of the cave was a seven foot wide hole that stretched to the back of the cave. Inside the hole was a pool of blue liquid.

"This is mako that hasn't crystallized yet." Yuffie said.

"Wow, this is beautiful." Rose said, approaching the pool. She kept her distance though. If she fell in, there was no telling if she would come out of it and if she did, she would be lucky to have survived.

"Respectful, but cautious. Smart." Yuffie said, watching Rose look at the pool.

"I really don't want to get poisoned by mako." She replied. She let her eyes wander around the cave, looking at the different crystal formations.

'_**And to think she was so upset the night before.**_' Chaos commented.

'Yes, she was.' Vincent replied.

'_**It must have been hell for her to live like that.**_'

'We can only imagine.'

'_**Which is why you should have killed that bastard.**_'

"You have to wonder." Rose said as she continued to gaze at the crystals.

"Wonder about what?" Vincent asked, forgetting about the conversation Chaos had tried to start.

"If the theory that all souls return to the planet, and mako is the life of the planet then that means the living creatures is a part of the mako." Rose said. "Can you imagine the knowledge that this materia could possibly hold?"

Yuffie contemplated that for a moment. "Wow, I never thought about that."

"It is an interesting theory." Vincent added.

"Then again, the Planet probably wouldn't want us to have that knowledge." Rose said as she reached out a hand and stroked a crystal. "We would do very destructive things if we had any of that knowledge."

"Indeed, humans are very destructive. Any knowledge given to us, we abuse." Vincent said.

"Come on you guys, that's not entirely true." Yuffie said.

"Perhaps not, but its true for the most part." Rose said and continued before Yuffie could say anything to argue about it. "Shinra is the perfect example Yuffie. Look at what that company did when they discovered Mako. They used it to created electricity and nearly killed the Planet in the process. They also created weapons using the mako and experimented on humans with it. Knowledge is a powerful thing, but if abused can lead to destruction."

"You're right about Shinra, but knowledge that we've gained through our journey to save the Planet became a great benefit to us." Yuffie replied.

"How long will that last until someone gets a hold of that knowledge and abuses it?" Rose asked.

Yuffie opened her mouth to say something, but when she realized she didn't have an answer for that she closed it again.

"We'll worry about that when it happens." Vincent said, answering for Yuffie. "If something like what Shinra had done happens again, we'll be there to stop it. That's why AVALANCHE stayed together."

"And the friendship we've created! Don't forget about that Vincent." Yuffie added.

"Yes." Vincent said after a moment. "Yuffie, if there are any other caves you wish to show Rose, we should get going."

"Right. Come on." Yuffie said, leading the way out of the cave.

The group visited 3 other caves before finally heading back. There were more caves Yuffie wanted to show, but it would have to wait until another visit to the canyon. The sun had made its journey across the sky and to the west when the trio made it back to where they were staying with the group.

"Hi guys. Did you have fun?" Aerith greeted as the three came in.

"Yeah, we did." Rose answered with a smile as she took a drink of water from the glass she had taken out.

"I forgot how hot it can get out there." Yuffie said. "Rose, we should go for a swim."

She seemed to pause for a moment, before continuing what she was doing. "Nah, I don't think so."

"Come on Rose, it'll be refreshing after the climb." Yuffie pressed.

"Maybe next time Yuffie." Rose replied. "I'm supposed to meet up with Cloud and Sephiroth about getting my sword after seeing the caves, remember?"

"Oh….that's right." She replied, seeming to deflate a little.

"We'll hang out later Yuffie." Rose said, trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah. Well, I think I'm going to go ahead and have a swim." She said, turning and leaving.

"Rose, may I have a word with you for a moment?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah, sure." She answered.

Aerith took a breath to gather her thoughts a moment. "Rose, is there something you need to talk about?"

She was taken aback by that question, but recovered as quickly as she could. "I don't know what you mean."

"Considering how you reacted to Cid's joke last night, I would say that you do." Aerith gently replied. "If you need to talk about something, I can help."

"I don't need to talk about anything." Rose said and she moved to walk around her, but she stopped her by putting her hands on her shoulders.

"Please Rose. It's not good for you to keep things bottled up." She said.

"Rose, at least consider it, please." Vincent said as he stood at the doorway.

Rose sighed as she looked at Aerith. "I'll think about it."

Aerith removed her hands from her shoulders and Rose left the room.

"Her spirit has been hurt Vincent, but I can't help her unless she wants it."

"I know. I'll try to talk to her later to get her to accept your help." He replied.

"If we are to repair her spirit to what it was before, we're going to have to hurry." She said.

Rose made her way down the stairs to go outside and nearly ran into Reeve in the process.

"Oh jeez! I'm sorry Reeve." She chuckled.

"No harm done." He replied with a chuckle of his own. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm supposed to meet with Cloud and Sephiroth." She answered. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find them, do you?"

"I believe they were heading to the weapon shop. Do you know where that is?" he said.

"I think so. Thanks Reeve." She said before going the rest of the way down the stairs and out the door.

Reeve watched her disappear out the door before continuing up the stairs himself.

Rose quickly made her way outside and to where the stores were at. She quickly found the weapons shop and went inside. She found Cloud and Sephiroth in there.

"That might be too heavy for her to start off with." Cloud said, handing the sword back to the owner.

"Perhaps this then. This one is lighter." The owner said.

"That one might be a bit too long for her." Sephiroth replied.

"We don't want something that's too long, or too heavy." Cloud said. "This may be more difficult than I thought."

"Maybe it wouldn't be the best idea for me to get a sword?" Rose asked as she walked up to the three.

Cloud whipped around to look at her. "When did you get here?"

"About a minute ago." Sephiroth answered, unfazed that she had just walked up to them.

"You have eyes on the back of your head?" Rose joked.

"No. Thankfully I don't have that." Sephiroth answered.

"The final decision is up to you Rose, but we may need to do some more shopping unless you want one that is custom made for you." Cloud said, handing the last sword back to the store owner who gave a small bow of his head before returning the swords back to their places.

"I wouldn't think it would be too difficult to learn since you two would be teaching me." Rose said, crossing her arms. "We could do some more shopping around to see what is out there."

"Alright, there's no rush on it." Cloud said. He thanked the store owner before the three walked out. "How did you like the caves?"

"They were pretty and interesting." Rose answered. "It's amazing how mako bubbles up to the crust and crystallizes like that."

"Mako in it's natural state is the most beautiful." Sephiroth said.

"Yeah. We saw a pool of mako that hadn't crystallized yet. That was cool." Rose replied.

"I wondered if she was going to take you to that cave." Cloud said.

"I hope you kept your distance from it." Sephiroth said.

"I did. I don't think mako poisoning would be fun." She replied. She stopped to look at the canyon. It really was different and pretty with the setting sun. There were so many colors she had to stop and appreciate it.

"Coming Rose?" Cloud asked when she had stopped.

"Actually I think I'm going to stay out here and enjoy the sunset." She answered.

"Suit yourself." He replied.

"Just don't wander too far into the canyon." Sephiroth warned before the two left her.

"I won't, I promise." She said before venturing out. She wanted to find a bit of a higher place to watch the sun set and see the colors change in the canyon.

She made her way a little into the canyon to find the best spot to sit and watch the sunset. She was only there for twenty minutes when she heard a commotion of yelping and howling. She made sure she had all her equipment before making her way down from her perch. The only thing she was missing were her bracers since they would have been in the way during the climb earlier.

She followed the noise coming into a small clearing surrounded by rock. She saw four guard hounds surrounding a deep red wolf against a rock. She quietly unhooked one of her throwing stars and slowly stood, not wanting to give away her position before she could do something.

She took careful aim. If she messed up she would end up hitting the wolf instead of the guard hound that was advancing on him.

She carefully aimed and sent the star flying. It was a direct hit to the head of the guard hound, killing him instantly. Once his lifeless body hit the ground the remaining three turned and focused on Rose, starting to advance on her.

She quickly made her way out of her hiding spot from behind the rock and into the clearing. She knew that if she was trapped against the rock, she would be done for. The guard hounds were slowly advancing on her, not paying attention to the wolf that had made its way from the wall and out of the clearing.

Rose took a defensive stance, throwing star in hand. She wasn't going to try to run. She was in for a fight and she knew it.

The three remaining guard hounds advanced into a v-formation. The guard hound on her left started for her at a run. She threw her throwing star at him, making him jump back immediately. The guard hound on the right took that chance to run at her, but she was too quick. She threw a right kick at him as the guard hound in the middle came at her. She tapped into her fire materia and engulfed him in flames. He howled in pain before he fell to the ground.

As the middle guard hound fell to the ground the one on the right seemed to study her, trying to figure out her movements and her next plan of action. While that was going on, the one on the left ran at a circle to get behind Rose. She turned as she grabbed a throwing star. She threw it at him as he leapt at her and he fell to the ground.

The remaining guard hound leapt at Rose's exposed back. She turned to attack, but didn't get a chance this time. She was knocked to the ground, the force of the guard hound's attack sent her sliding against the rock tearing up a side her back. She reached for another throwing star as the guard hound made a leap to make the killing blow. A gunshot rang through the air as the guard hound fell beside her dead.

She looked at the guard hound for a moment with wide eyes before searching for the source of the gunshot. She found Vincent quickly making his way towards her. Cloud was also with him, but he went to the other guard hounds to make sure they were dead.

"Are you alright?" Vincent said, kneeling down next to her and helped her to sit up.

"Just some scratches. I'm fine." She said.

"I think they're more than scratches." Vincent replied as blood started to blot on the back of her shirt. He helped her to stand. "Let's get you back so we can get you patched up."

She nodded as she allowed him to help her stand.

"What were you doing out here?" Cloud asked a little sternly, after making sure the guard hounds were dead.

"I heard yelping and I came down here to see what was going on." She answered. "I saw a young wolf surrounded by them and I helped."

"A wolf this close?" Cloud asked, not entirely believing it.

"Yes." Rose answered sounding sincere. She winced a little as the pain started on her back.

"Cloud, let's get her back and patched up first." Vincent said.

Cloud nodded and they helped her back up the cliff.

"How did you know where to find me?" Rose asked as they walked back.

"We heard howling and came to see what was going on." Cloud answered.

It was a short walk when they made it back.

"What happened?" Tifa asked as the three walked in.

"She got into a fight with guard hounds." Cloud answered.

"We'll take care of it."Aerith said as she and Tifa took her into another room and shut the door.

"I can take care of this." Rose said facing the two.

"Rose, there's no way you can take care of this wound. It's on your back." Tifa said approaching her.

"Really, I can take care of it." She replied taking a step back.

"Rose please, let us clean it up and we'll heal you." Aerith said.

"I don't need to be healed. I've gone years without it, I can handle it." She replied.

"At least let us clean out the wound and bandage you up." Tifa said, gently taking hold of her upper arm.

"Really, I can take care of it." She repeated.

"Rose, you'll need help with it." Aerith said as she stepped around her and started to carefully peel away her shirt.

"Please, stop." Rose whimpered, but it was too late. Both of the other women's eyes widened when they saw the countless scars on her back.

"Rose, what…?" Tifa questioned as she looked back at her. Rose's eyes were shut as tears started making their way down her face.

"Rose, we're sorry." Aerith said, the two women seemed to have an idea of what had happened to her.

"Please don't tell Marlene and Denzel." Rose quietly pleaded with a small sob. "I don't want them to know what had happened to me."

"We won't." Tifa promised, then turned to Aerith. "Let's get her wounds cleaned and healed."

Aerith nodded in agreement as they got to work. They carefully peeled off the rest of her shirt and discarded it. The girls worked as gently as they could, but the cleaning process of the wound was especially painful for Rose. Once that was done, they gave her a light heal and got her wounds to close. Once that was finished Tifa left the room to get her a fresh set of clothes.

"I'm sorry." Rose said. "I shouldn't be crying over nothing."

"This isn't nothing Rose." Aerith gently replied. "Judging from how you reacted to Cid's comment last night and these scars, you went through hell on your planet." Aerith knew there was no telling how damaged her mind was until Rose opened up to her.

"I….did." she replied.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Aerith asked. When Rose didn't reply she continued. "Rose, the more you talk about it, the more it can help."

"It….it all started on my fourteenth birthday…"

_A/N: I think the title to this chapter is a little lame, but I couldn't figure out the best title for it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully the next one will be up soon. I will try to reply to those who left a comment/review. If you don't want me to do this at the end of each chapter, let me know._

_MysticPhoenix1992: You changed your penname! You confused me for a minute till I figured out who you were, lol. When I get time again, I'll get back to reading your stories again._

_Yaoi-Beloved: I know the pairing is a little weird, but I do remember reading somewhere that it was the original concept. I didn't want him to be a bad guy for this story, so I went with it._

_Kero: Don't worry about it. I'm glad that you're continuing to wait for the next chapter. Thanks for the patience and I hope you keep enjoying. _

_Rose With 2 Sides: I'm glad you like it. My life is a little busy, but I will try to keep updating as quickly as I can._

_A thank you to all of you who have been reading this story thus far. My email was filled with messages of you favoriting my story, me as an author and alerting to my story (I haven't checked my email in a while, lol). Thank you so much, it's you guys that keeps me going. _


	15. Discovery

_Here is the next chapter. To tell you the truth, I hate this chapter. I feel it's more of a filler chapter than anything else, but it was necessary for the story which is why it's my least favorite so far. If you don't like this chapter either, I really apologize but it was necessary. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 14 Discovery

Rose leaned in the doorway that lead to a ledge that was used as a balcony. She didn't go out on it, unless she wished to get soaking wet by the rain. Since spilling her guts to Aerith the previous evening, she really hadn't seen much of anyone. She hadn't even see Vincent the night before. He didn't come in till late and she had already fallen asleep.

When she woke up, he was already gone. She had stayed in bed until the afternoon before finally convincing herself to get up…only to end up here. She shoved her hands in her pockets. She really should go and socialize with everyone, but for some reason she didn't want to.

She gave a small gasp when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and turned to come face to face with Vincent. She hadn't even heard him walk up behind her.

"Rose…."

"I'm sorry Vincent." She said turning back to the door. "I've been avoiding everybody."

"They'll understand Rose." He replied. "I didn't want Aerith to tell anybody unless you were ready for them to know."

"…..I should have put it behind me since coming here. There just seems to be something that keeps holding me back in the past." She said. "I shouldn't feel sorry for myself when compared to…you."

That statement really grabbed Vincent's attention. "Rose."

She continued. "You've literally been through hell Vincent. I've been through nothing compared to you."

"That's not true Rose."

"Yes it is Vincent. Just look at your personal history. You couldn't protect the one you loved, you were killed then experimented on and brought back to life." She replied, tears starting to leak from her eyes. "Now you're stuck with things because of those experiments. What happened to me is minuscule compared to you."

"That is not true Rose." Vincent said, pulling her into a hug. "You also have been through hell. Your history and scars prove that."

"I haven't experienced near the level of hell that you have." She said.

"Rose, although that may be true, all we can do is live our lives. The past will always be there to remind us what happened. It doesn't mean that we can't try to push past it and move on." He replied.

Rose was silent for a moment. It was almost the same thing that Aerith had said the evening before.

"You haven't eaten anything." Vincent said. It wasn't a question.

She shook her head against his chest. She hadn't eaten since the afternoon of the day before, when they had stopped for a short time on their hike.

"Come on. There's nobody in there now. You need to eat something." He said, leading her to the kitchen.

"_It started when you were fourteen?"_

"_Yeah, that's when the shit really hit the fan you could say."_

_It had taken a few minutes for Rose to stop crying and to calm down a little, but when she did she was ready to talk to Aerith._

"_Rose, if you don't want to talk about it, don't force it."_

"_No, I have to talk about it. I won't heal properly if I don't talk about it." She replied._

_Aerith nodded in understanding. "Go ahead." She gently coaxed._

"_It was my fourteenth birthday. My mom was making an ice cream cake like she always did for me and she didn't have enough of an ingredient. She went to the store to get more and while she was there a robbery started and it went wrong. She was shot and killed." She said, tears threatening to break free again._

"_It's alright, take your time." Aerith said._

"_I…I was fifteen when my step father snapped. It was my fifteenth birthday when he started to beat me, blaming me for my mother's death." She continued, working through the tears._

"_Your step father? What about your real father?" Aerith asked._

"_He died in a motorcycle accident when I was six. I hardly remember him." Rose answered._

"_When did your mom remarry?"_

"_I was eleven. That's when Robert and his son Bradley moved in with us after my mom married him." She answered._

_Aerith looked at her with sympathetic eyes, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. She knew it had to have been hard for her to live with them and it had to be even harder to talk about it._

_Rose took another deep breath before continuing. "….In order for Robert to keep control of me, he told me that I was going to be marrying his son. He believed that since he couldn't be happy with the one he loved, since I took his love away from him, I couldn't know what it would be like to live with someone I truly loved and cared about."_

"_Why didn't you just leave?" Aerith asked._

"_You have no choice, when your life is threatened, and the lives of your loved ones are also threatened." She answered. "The only way I could get out of that situation was to either die, or break off from the family and disappear."_

_A sob escaped her and Aerith gave her hand another squeeze. _

"…_I was raped several times by Bradley after I turned seventeen." The tears were flowing freely now. _

"_Rose, I'm so sorry." Aerith said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. _

"_If it wasn't for Vincent, I would probably have died in the next few years." She said, another sob escaping her._

_Aerith pulled the girl closer to her, letting her cry. Who knew how long she had been holding this back. She always had a brave face on when around everybody else. Whether it was false or true, it was hard to tell._

"_I'm sorry." Rose said, wiping away some of the tears._

"_Don't be. It's okay to cry when you need to." She replied._

"_What can I do about this? The past won't leave me alone and I can't push past it." Rose said. "There are times where I don't see Vincent, I see Bradley and it scares me."_

"_The past is past, there's no changing it. It's just there to remind us what had happened." Aerith said. "The best advice I can give to you is to talk to Vincent. Be open and honest with him. Take things slow, don't try to rush into anything. You have healing that you need to do first Rose."_

The conversation she had with Aerith the evening before kept replaying over and over in Rose's mind as she sat in one of the sitting rooms. She was on the floor, back against the couch, drawing pad in hand, pastel chalk on the floor next to her. Next to the chalk was what appeared to be an iPod back home, and the ear buds were in her ears. It wasn't blasting, but it was enough to drown out any of the noise that could be heard.

"There you are Rose."

She didn't reply. She kept drawing in her sketch book.

Yuffie kneeled down in front of her and removed her ear buds, getting Rose's attention. "Hey."

"Hi Yuffie." She greeted back.

"I heard about what happened. Is your back alright?" Yuffie asked, concern in her voice.

"Yeah, its fine, thanks to Aerith and Tifa." She answered.

"I see." She replied. "How come you've been hiding? I haven't seen you since I left for a swim yesterday."

"I…I had some things I needed to think about. It's something I need to talk with everybody in order to answer that, but it's something I don't want the kids to hear." Rose answered.

"Distracting them won't be too much of a task. If it's something important, they won't try to eavesdrop." She replied. "Is it something you wanted to talk about right away?"

Rose took a moment to think that over. "…..I think that would be best."

"Rose, you don't have to talk about it now, if you don't want to." Vincent said from the doorway.

"No, I want to Vincent and they have a right to know." Rose replied.

"I'll go find them for you then." Yuffie said before standing and leaving the room.

"Are you sure, that you want to tell them now?" Vincent asked.

"Yes. I think that if I tell them now, I'll feel better sooner." She replied, looking up at him.

"How did you deal with that?" Tifa asked, after hearing Rose's story.

"You force yourself to deal with it. You force yourself to learn to smile to the world to hide what's going on. You learn to lie and make up excuses to the bruises and cuts." Rose answered. "You learn when your closest family at the time are threatened…when your life is threatened. You don't have a choice but to learn to deal with it."

"That's awful." Yuffie murmured.

"….." Rose didn't reply.

Yuffie turned to Vincent. "You better tell us that you either killed the bastard, or put him in his place."

'See? Someone else agrees with me. You should have killed him.'

"No, I didn't." Vincent answered.

"What?" Yuffie said.

"It doesn't matter Yuffie." Rose said.

"Yeah, but-"

"What's done is done." Rose said. "Killing him wouldn't have changed anything."

The room filled with silence after that.

'They never would have known.'

'No, they wouldn't.' Vincent replied.

"I love your drawings, they're so pretty." Marlene mused as she looked through Rose's sketch book. "I wish I could draw like this."

"Anybody can draw Marlene." Rose said. She turned to a blank page in the book and handed her a pencil. "Make a scribble, any kind."

She took the pencil uncertainly and put it to the paper. She ran the lead up and down in the middle of the page then gave the pencil back to Rose.

After looking at it for a minute Rose picked up the pad and started to draw. After a few minutes she turned the pad around for Marlene to see.

"See Marlene? You've drawn a chocobo." She said, making the young girl smile even though it was only a rough sketch.

"Let me try this." Yuffie said, taking the pad. She turned to a fresh page and drew a bunch of circles on the paper that was decently spaced and gave it to Rose. "Make something out of this."

"Okay." She replied as she started to draw. It took her a little longer before turning it to Yuffie to see. "You've made a bunch of moogles."

That caused laughter to erupt in the room.

"Smarty pants." Yuffie said.

"You asked for it." Rose teased.

Denzel walked up to Rose before Yuffie could retort.

"Could you tell me what they're saying?" he asked as he handed her, her iPod that she had let him borrow.

She took a moment to listen to it then took the ear buds out. "I'm sorry, that's in Japanese and I don't know the words to the lyrics, so I can't translate it for you."

"Oh." He replied. "It doesn't sound like a human voice though."

"That's because it isn't." she said.

"If it's not a human voice, then what is it?" Marlene asked.

"It's computer generated, both the voice and the character." Rose said. "They're called vocaloids. It's a Japanese program that was created for musicians. When musicians created their music and didn't have anybody to sing the lyrics they would use the vocaloid program. They would type in the lyrics and the program would sing it for them. It became popular around the world and soon characters were created to go with the voice. If I remember right, Miku Hatsune was the first vocaloid to be created and her age I believe was sixteen."

"That was Miku that I just listened to?" Denzel asked.

"No, that one was Rin and Len Kigamine. They are twin brother and sister preteen vocaloids. The dance that goes with that particular song is quiet fun." Rose said. "At the Halloween party I'll do that for you. There really isn't any room in here right now."

"I would like to see that." Yuffie said.

"It is fun." Rose said.

"That was a brave thing you did today Rose." Vincent said as he walked with her through the edge of the canyon.

"They have a right to know. I'm part of this group now and rapidly becoming close friends with them." She replied.

She turned to look at the setting sun and took in a deep breath. The canyon smelled extremely good after a good rain. She was happier than she had been. She felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders since she had told the group what had happened to her. To top it off, Red had informed her that her saving the wolf had helped the situation in the canyon between the wolves and the people.

"It's so peaceful here. The tranquility can really make you forget about the outside world for a while."

Vincent looked at her. "Yes it can."

He himself had experienced that many times, just as others had.

'I hate to cut this romantic walk short Valentine, be on your guard.' Chaos suddenly said.

'Why?' Vincent asked, knowing Chaos was serious due to the tone in his voice.

'There's death in the air. I can sense it…and it's human.' He answered.

This grabbed Vincent's attention immediately. He took Chaos's advice and became aware of his surroundings. With every sound his attention was brought to that spot. Vincent's behavior grabbed Rose's attention. When he stopped short in a particular area she became concerned.

"Vincent, what's wrong?" she asked.

"There's something wrong. It's too quiet." He answered.

Rose took in her surroundings, letting her senses take over like she had been taught to do. Vincent was right. There was no movement. No animals could be heard, no bugs were buzzing, even the wind seemed to have stopped.

Her eyes wandered, taking in the surroundings. They fell to the small ledge below them and she took in a small breath.

"Vincent…" she pointed down at the figure that laid in the shadows of the ledge, not moving.

They quickly made their way towards the fallen figure and after checking for a pulse, determined the person was dead. It hadn't been that long since they died. The body wasn't that stiff yet.

As Rose looked at the body, she became aware they were dressed for colder climate. Sure it was getting colder, but it was still what Rose considered t-shirt weather, and the canyon was warm to begin with. If they had died not long ago, shouldn't they be dressed for warmer weather?

She pulled back the neck of the turtle neck of the shirt and froze. The throat of the person had been slashed. When she got over the shock she looked around the body.

"This isn't right. Even after a heavy rain, there should be some traces of blood either around the body or on the clothes."

Vincent also looked around the body and on the clothes. "You're right. Something weird is going on here."

_Finally, this chapter is done. Sorry to leave you with a cliff hanger, but I had to do it. Things will be picking up very soon. Within the next chapter or so and hopefully I'll be able to keep up with my writing like I should be doing, lol. Argh, you have no idea how much I hate this chapter! I'm not completely happy with it, but this is the best I can do with this chapter. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up for you guys soon and you'll find out what's going on._

_MysticPhoenix1992: I'm back with another chapter. I really feel like this is the worst chapter so far. I really hate this chapter, but it was necessary. You are right, having the same name for a lot of the accounts you have can make your life easier, lol._

_Alesana4ever: Woooo, you have an account now! That's exciting! I'm glad I put that part in the last chapter too. It really was a bamf moment for Rose, lol. I'm sorry if you were a little disappointed in her story in this chapter, I won't blame you. Like I said, this really isn't my favorite chapter. Thank you for understanding and hopefully I'll start cranking out chapters quicker than I have been._

_SilverNeira: I'm glad you find Rose's knowledge to be entertaining, lol. It's a little bit of my knowledge that I know from the game series, from what I found on the internet and my own speculations. I hope you continue to enjoy the story and I will try to update sooner._

_Everybody, thanks again for your support for this story. It really motivates me to keep it going. A small p.s. to everybody. Vocaliod is a real computer program that you can buy. Google it, and you'll be able to find out more information on it than I could ever give you through small notes like these. Thanks for the awesome reviews and hopefully I'll be back soon with another chapter for you guys._


	16. Kidnapping

_Okay here is the next chapter. This one was fun and interesting to write. I hope you like this chapter as much as I do and I hope it makes up for how boring the last chapter was. A quick note, I updated my profile with a list of stories that I have working in my head. Go and see the list and hopefully I'll have you looking forward to more stories. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 15 Kidnapping

Rose sat at the bar in Seventh Heaven. It had been a couple of days since the body had been discovered. Tests were being run at the WRO and that's where Vincent was, waiting on the results. She let out a small sigh as the bell rang and somebody walked in.

"Hi Yuffie." Tifa greeted as the ninja walked in. "Anything yet?"

"No not yet." She answered. "Vincent asked me to come and see how Rose was doing."

"I'm fine." She quietly muttered.

"You don't seem like it. You seem really down, especially after you saw Leanne about your back." Yuffie replied.

Rose didn't say anything to that. She seemed to lower her head more as she stared down at the counter of the bar.

Yuffie and Tifa exchanged worried glances.

"Rose, are you sure you're alright?" Tifa asked.

Rose's eyes turned up to Tifa. "I'm fine, really." She said before letting her eyes wander back down to the counter top of the bar.

Yuffie chewed her lip for a moment thinking. "You know what you need Rose? You need ice cream!"

Rose quickly looked up at her at her sudden outburst. Her look of surprise was replaced with confusion. "Wait, what?"

"You need ice cream." She repeated and quickly tugged her away from the bar.

Rose stopped at the door and turned back. "My phone." She said, looking at her cell phone she left on the bar.

"You don't need it. We're just going a short way down the street. Besides if anything happens, they'll be able to get a hold of us through my phone." Yuffie said as she tugged her out of the bar.

Tifa shook her head with a small sigh as she turned her attention back to the dishes. She hoped Rose's spirits would pick up soon.

Yuffie lead Rose down the street then turned down the block and out of sight of Seventh Heaven. Rose was sure this was not the way to the ice cream place Yuffie had intended to take her to.

"Uh, Yuffie I think we're going the wrong way." She said.

Yuffie shook her head. "Nope, this is the right direction."

"No Yuffie, I'm sure it's back that way."

"We're not going to the ice cream parlor." Yuffie said.

"Then where are we going?" Rose asked.

Yuffie looked back at her with a grin. "The Gold Saucer."

"The results of the autopsy are not fully completed yet. I'm still waiting on the test results from Shalua and Shelke." Leanne said.

"This person was one of the missing people." Reeve said.

"Yes. He's been missing for some time, but he's been dead for no more than a few days." Leanne said.

"What did you find from the autopsy alone?" Vincent asked.

"Rose made a great observation when there was no blood when the throat had been slit. Even if it was done after he was dead, there would have been traces of blood somewhere." Leanne said. "There was no blood to spill though, he was completely drained."

"Completely drained?" Reeve asked.

"Yes. I took swabs of the wound and sent muscle tissue to Shalua and Shelke to test. With no blood, that's all we really have to work with." Leanne said, worry evident on her features. "I don't like where this is going. I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Leanne, everything will be alright." Reeve tried to assure her.

"I hope you're right." She replied.

"Give me a call when you have the results." He said then turned to Vincent. "Vincent, I need to discuss something with you, please come with me."

Vincent followed Reeve out of the room and down the hall. "What is it?"

"It is possible that things may start to get complicated." Reeve stopped and turned to Vincent. "Do you think Rose is ready to fight if it comes down to it?"

"Rose has had extensive training with Tifa and Yuffie and she did well in fighting guard hounds. If it came down to it, I think she's ready." Vincent said.

Reeve released a sigh as they started to walk again. "Until she's had more battle experience, I think it'll be best that she has a partner with her at all times."

Vincent gave a small nod. "Tifa, Yuffie or myself may be the best candidates for her right now."

"I agree." Reeve said. His attention was brought to his pocket when his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered it. "This is Reeve…." Vincent stopped when he did and watched Reeve's face take on the look of horror. "The tests revealed what?!"

Tifa had just finished cleaning glasses when her attention was drawn to the door opening.

"Hi Vincent, Reeve. What's up?" Tifa asked.

"Where are Rose and Yuffie?" Vincent asked, not answering her question.

"They went for ice cream." Tifa said looking a little worried. "What's going on?"

"Nothing good." Reeve said. "When did they leave?"

"Now that I think about it, they've been gone for quite some time." She said.

"Did they go to the one that's down the street?" Vincent asked.

"Yes." She nodded.

Vincent turned to leave but stopped when he recognized the sound of Rose's phone making the noise of receiving a text. He turned and looked at the phone that was still sitting on the bar. He picked it up and read the text, his eyes widening as he read it.

"This is the worst possible time for this Yuffie." Vincent said through gritted teeth.

"What is it?" Reeve asked.

"I have Rose. If you want her back, you'll have to come get her. You'll find us at the Gold Saucer." Vincent read aloud to the two.

"The Gold Saucer?!" Tifa exclaimed.

"This is bad." Reeve said.

"Yuffie, I don't think we should be doing this." Rose said as she and Yuffie sat in one of the restaurants eating ice cream at the Gold Saucer. Yuffie doing most of the eating than Rose was.

"Come on Rose. You needed some cheering up. Don't you want to feel better?" Yuffie asked as she picked up her cell phone after it vibrated.

"It's not that simple Yuffie." She replied as she looked at her melting ice cream.

"We'll play some games after this. How does that sound?" Yuffie asked as she looked at her cell phone, a grin tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Yuffie, I said it's not that simple."

"At least eat your ice cream." Yuffie replied, giving her a puppy eyed look.

Rose withheld a sigh as she picked up her spoon and dug into her sundae. Yuffie was kind enough to pay for it, so she might as well eat it.

After she had finished, Yuffie took her for some games, even though she said she didn't feel like it. Things were going to get fun and Yuffie had to make sure that they would be seen when they came to pick them up.

They weren't there for too long when Yuffie spotted them. She abandoned her game to watch what Vincent, Reeve and Tifa would do. Her grin got bigger when they spotted the two and started to make their way towards them.

"If you want her, you'll have to catch us!" Yuffie hollered to them. Before anybody could do anything about it, Yuffie had grabbed Rose's hand and took off at a run.

"Yuffie, I don't think this is a good idea." Rose said.

"This is for fun, come on." Yuffie tried to assure her.

Rose didn't believe her when she glanced at the three chasing them. They didn't look to happy about any of this. They were suddenly taken out of her sight when she was yanked to the side to another station of the place. It only took a few seconds before Rose was able to see anybody from the group, but it was only Vincent she saw. Reeve and Tifa had disappeared somewhere.

"Shit." Yuffie suddenly cursed.

Rose looked forward again to see Reeve ahead of them. She was suddenly yanked again into another direction.

"We won't be cornered that easily." Yuffie said.

She glanced behind them to see Vincent still following them then looked ahead of them again. She saw Tifa in the nick of time before yanking Rose into another direction. She knew they were trying to herd them into a direction to trap them. When she realized where it was they were trying to corner them at, her grin grew bigger. She went along with what the three were trying to do. It was all too perfect.

"Yuffie, we can't run from them forever." Rose said. Her arm saw starting to ache from being pulled by the ninja. She was faster than her and it was hard to keep up.

"We're almost there." Yuffie replied. She glanced back to make sure Vincent was still following them then looked ahead of them. The Gondola was just ahead of them.

Yuffie headed straight for the ride, getting ahead of Vincent a little. They disappeared from his sight for a moment, but it was just long enough. She almost threw Rose in the open cart, making her hit the far wall on the inside before she tumbled into the seat.

"Two please, but the second ticket isn't for me." Yuffie told the lady there in a rush. She caught Vincent hurrying towards them out of the corner of her eye. She hurried back towards the cart to draw him closer and to keep Rose from leaving it.

Vincent quickly approached her and took her arm. "Yuffie, this is not the time for-"

She twisted out of his grip and shoved him in the cart.

"Go!" she yelled at the lady, making her start the ride.

Vincent tried to make it to the door, but it had electronically swung shut and locked.

"Damn it." He muttered before sitting down on the bench opposite the one Rose sat at.

"I'm sorry Vincent. This wasn't in my plans for the day." Rose quietly said from where she sat.

"It's not your fault. Yuffie can be to spontaneous sometimes." He replied, anger still evident in his voice.

She didn't reply. Instead she looked at the floor as the ride continued. Vincent looked out the window, trying to get in control of the anger he had at the moment. When Rose didn't say anything, he turned his attention to her. There was a sadness he could see. It was obvious she was upset about something. What that was, he didn't know.

"Rose, it's not you I'm angry with." Vincent said.

"I know." She quietly replied, her gaze still on the floor.

Now he was starting to get worried. This wasn't like her at all. Something had upset her and she wasn't coming out and saying what it was. He moved to sit next to her. "Rose, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." She quietly said.

He knew that it wasn't nothing to have her this upset. He gently placed a hand to her face to make her look at him. "Rose, what's wrong?"

Her eyes started to tear up. As she blinked, the tears started to leak and leave a trail down her face. "I don't want to talk about it here."

"Alright." He replied, using his thumb to brush away the next tear that started to trail down her face. "We'll talk on the airship on the way back to the WRO."

She gave him a questioning look. "Did the test results come in?"

"Yes. We'll talk about it that later." He answered.

She nodded, wiping away the remaining tears she had for the moment.

"Yuffie, what were you thinking?!" Tifa scolded as the group made their way through the airship.

"She needed some cheering up." She answered.

"And you couldn't have done that in any other way?!" Tifa practically yelled.

Reeve pinched the bridge of his nose as he, Vincent and Rose walked behind the two. Leave it to Tifa to be the mother to scold the young ninja.

"She's been really down lately and I thought this would cheer her up." Yuffie replied.

Rose put a hand to her stomach. It had started to hurt and she started to feel a little nauseous.

"That's no excuse Yuffie! You don't drag people off to places they don't want to be at the moment!" Tifa said.

"It wasn't against her will. If she really didn't want to go I wouldn't have forced her." Yuffie said.

"Crap." Rose quietly moaned as she put a hand to the wall of the hallway and bent over. The pain in her stomach had gotten worse.

Vincent and Reeve both stopped when she did, noticing that she was in pain. Tifa and Yuffie continued on their way down the hall, still arguing.

"Rose, are you alright?" Vincent asked, placing a hand on her back.

"All that ice cream I had is coming back to haunt me. It didn't exactly digest before we started running around that place." Rose said. "Just give me a minute. I'll be alright."

Vincent bent down, sweeping her feet out from under her as he picked her up. "I'm going to take her to a resting area." He said to Reeve before taking a hallway that branched off.

Reeve nodded before following Tifa and Yuffie, knowing that Vincent and Rose would want their privacy.

Vincent continued to carry her to the resting area. With Vincent carrying her like this her emotions got the better of her and her tears returned. Thinking she was in more pain than he thought Vincent got her into the room as quickly as he could so he could lay her down on the bed.

"I'm sorry." She said as he closed the door behind them.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He replied. "You're in pain."

The tears started to come more thickly and a sob escaped her.

"Rose." Vincent said as he set her down on the bed. He was really worried about her now. Had the ice cream really made her sick?

"Vincent…I…"

"When we get there, we'll go see Leanne." Vincent said. This had him worried now. She either ate something that disagreed with her and made her really sick, or she was having some kind of reaction to something that may have been in the ice cream.

"It's not that Vincent." She said, looking at him now. Her vision was blurry, but she was able to see the confusion on his face. "I can't have children." She told him.

Vincent wasn't only confused, but he also became visibly upset. He was also at a loss for words.

"I had been feeling pain so I went to see Leanne. She had examined me and found I had a lot of scars from when I had been raped. I had reopened a lot of them while I've been here." She said. "There's too much damage Vincent. I can't have children with you."

Vincent stood there a moment, trying to maintain control of the emotions that were running through him right now. This news had upset him. Rose would have made a great mother and that had been taken away from her. He also felt anger. A lot of anger. The son of that bastard had not only stolen her virginity, but also her ability to have children.

"Vincent?" Rose gently called. She became worried at how silent he had become. She could see this had upset him, but wasn't sure what might happen. She wiped away a few tears to clear her vision a little.

This wasn't the time to ponder what had happened and what could have been. Rose was hurting and he needed to be there for her. He crouched down in front of her and pulled her off to bed and enveloped her in his arms, hugging her tightly.

"I'm sorry Rose. I'm sorry that was taken from you." He gently said. He pulled away from her enough to look at her. "There is always the option of adoption. We can still have children, just not the usual way."

"You would really want to do that?" she asked.

"As long as it's with you." He answered.

She put her arms around him in another hug as the movement of the airship was felt, signaling they had taken off. She was upset that she couldn't have children with Vincent, but she was happy he was willing to adopt.

'_**Hey Vincent. I just want to let you know that I'm sorry to hear you two won't be able to have any children**_.' Chaos said as the group walked down the hall of the WRO.

Chaos had been unusually quiet since Vincent had received the news that Rose couldn't have children. His guess was that Chaos was giving Vincent some time to let the news sink in and to comfort Rose uninterrupted. His apology to Vincent at the news even sounded genuine.

'Thank you, Chaos.'

'_**I have to admit though. Between you two, those little fuckers would have been cute**_.'

Vincent repressed a sigh. Leave it to Chaos to make that kind of comment.

"And you're sure that was the conclusion of the test?" Cloud asked as the group walked into a computer room.

Rose recognized it immediately from Dirge of Cerberus. It was the same one Vincent had been taken to and put into the tank after his first encounter with Rosso. In the room as they walked in was Cloud and Sephiroth talking to a young woman in a lab coat. Another young woman was sitting at one of the computers, both had matching red hair color. Leanne was also in the room with them.

"Yes Cloud, I told you. I ran the test three times to make sure. The cause for the disappearances and what we were able to find out from the body is-"

"They're here." The girl at the computer interrupted, standing and greeting the group. "Reeve, Vincent, Tifa, Yuffie, and Rose I suspect."

"Yes." Reeve confirmed.

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to meet you two until now." Rose replied.

"It happens." The young lady in the lab coat said. "I'm Shalua and this is my sister Shelke."

"So what exactly is going on?" Yuffie asked. She couldn't figure out what could have happened to make everyone so upset with her for taking Rose to the Gold Saucer.

"The result of the missing people and what we have been able to find out from the body that Vincent and Rose found, is that this is the work of vampires." Shelke answered.

Rose's heart skipped a beat. Vampires really existed? The creature that she loved so much to read about in mythology was actually real? She could tell this was definitely bad. She knew about them from mythology, but how much of it was actually true, she didn't know.

_A/N: First I want to say that I'm so sorry for not getting this chapter out sooner. My work life got in the way a little bit and my muses drifted off a little. I hope you guys don't hate me to much for putting off telling you what was going on, on the planet of Gaia until the very end. If I had told you at the beginning of the chapter, then there wouldn't be any suspense, and what fun would that be? When I started writing this story (a year ago, wow)I wanted it to be something with vampires. I know that's the popular thing right now with the Twilight series and I'm sorry for those who are sick of it. I promise to try to make this as interesting as possible for you, so please don't get turned off by this story containing vampires. I'm going to shut up now, please stay tuned for the next chapter that I'll hopefully have up soon._

_Alesana4ever: I know the last chapter was quite boring and I'm sorry. I hope this chapter made up for that. Things are going to pick up soon in the story, so hopefully it won't get boring again._

_MysticPhoenix1992: I'm glad you understood and enjoyed the last chapter even though I really hated it. I'm sorry I haven't been reading any of your stories that you've updated and finished. I promise I'll get back to those as soon as I can._


	17. Agitations

_Wow, this is a new record for me in a long while. This is a relatively quick update XD. This is probably the second dull chapter but I tried to mix in a bit of humor so I hope it won't be too boring. There is also some important information in here as well so it was also a necessary chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 16 Agitations

The ring of garlic gives protection, myth. Burning in the sunlight, myth. The crucifix will harm them, also a myth.

A vampire does need blood in order to survive. If they don't get their needed, blood, they become weak and it becomes extremely difficult for them to move.

They can come out at any time of day. They choose to come out at night to hunt because they have the advantage in the dark due to their night vision and incredible sense of smell.

Another advantage they have is they can speak to one another through their thoughts.

They do have a weakness however. Their heart. Always aim for the heart to get the battle over with as quickly as possible. Anywhere else will only slow them down for a short period of time.

They heal quickly and they'll be ready to fight again when given the chance. As long as a vampire protects their heart, they are immortal.

Rose was going through all of the information in her head while she sat in the empty cafeteria of the WRO. Until more information was gathered, she was to stay put inside the organization.

This was frustrating to her. How was she supposed to gain more experience if Vincent didn't allow her to leave and get it. He became concerned about her when he found out she had been unintentionally hurting herself. She had told him that Leanne had given her a cure to make sure her scars closed and wouldn't open again, but he didn't want to take any chances.

To add onto her frustration, Reeve had told her that Rufus wanted to create an escape route from his office in his new building. This wouldn't have frustrated her so much if construction wasn't well underway. A lot of the floors had already been complete and everything had come to a screeching halt with Rufus's new decision.

The cherry on top of it all was Rufus was angry at her for not including it in the blueprints in the first place when he didn't specifically ask for it to begin with or bring it up when she presented the plans to him. The construction crew was angry at Rufus for the last minute decision and had to stop all construction because of this.

All of this was dumped into Rose's lap because of the situation at the present time. Reeve couldn't deal with it.

Rose let out a frustrated sigh as she looked at the original blue prints, the blue prints showing what had been done and looking at the 3D model on the computer of what had been done. She was starting to get a headache from it all.

Presently Vincent was in the ruins of Midgar with Cloud to see what they could find and to make sure that Edge would be safe from any vampires that may be hiding there. It was the first time that week since learning about the vampires that he had been separated from Rose. He wanted to get this job done as quickly as possible and get back to her. He and Cloud had separated while they looked, making sure their cell phones were on so they could call if they found something or ran into a problem.

Vincent was approaching the old Shinra building when memories started to flood his brain, making him stop. When Meteor was falling, the evacuation of everybody that was still trapped in Midgar, the mako cannon and the incident of Deepground. Now he was checking the place for traces of vampires.

'_**Hmmmm, I wonder what role this place will play next before it finally collapses.**_'

'One can only guess.' Vincent replied as he gazed up at the building.

'…_**.Are you going to move Valentine or am I going to have to make you move?**_'

Vincent felt a pulse of pain rack his body, making him jolt before he fell forward onto his hands and knees. His vision became a little blurry and everything was tinted in red before it went back to normal.

'_**Consider that a warning. You don't want to linger around here in case there are vampires around. Get moving and get the job done, or did you forget you have somebody waiting for you back at the WRO?**_'

"You wouldn't." Vincent growled as he stood back up and started heading towards the building again.

'_**You know as well as I do that I can and I will. Keep moving.**_' He threatened.

Vincent knew that Chaos was right. The protomateria didn't help him contain Chaos all the time. There have been times where he had emerged and the materia could do nothing to stop him. The only times that ever happened was when Chaos was extremely angry, Vincent became extremely angry, or when Vincent was seriously injured. Right now, Chaos was getting testy. Vincent didn't want to try to push it and having him emerge. He took Chaos's advice and entered the Shinra building.

When Vincent entered the building, memories of the Deepground incident emerged again. This time he didn't need to go down below though. Instead he would make his way up and through the building to check it out. He would go down only if he felt the need to check out that area.

Vincent made his way up, checking out floors that he deemed safe enough to check. When he got to the highest floor that he knew would be the safest to look around, he made a grisly discovery. He found three bodies that were decomposing, looking like grapes that had been left in the sun to turn into raisins.

'_**They have most definitely have been here.**_'

'How do you know this?' Vincent asked as he crouched down to get a better look at the bodies.

'_**I can tell by the smell. You can't pick it up, but it has the same the other body has.**_'

That was when Vincent's cell phone decided to ring.

"Vincent, did you find anything?" Cloud's voice asked.

"Yes. In the Shinra building, on the thirty fifth floor are three bodies. They've been here for a while though." He answered.

"Three bodies." Cloud repeated. "We can only guess what had happened to those two. I don't think just anybody would wander inside the Shinra building. Especially that high in the state it's in."

"I agree." Vincent said, looking up at the ceiling as it started to crumble, pieces landing around him.

"Vincent, get out of there." Cloud said, hearing what was happening.

'_**Listen to him Vincent. Book it!**_'

Vincent hung up the phone as he bolted for an open window. He leapt out, taking his cape form and flew to the ground. He shifted back to his human form and watched as the Shinra building's upper floors collapsed. Amazingly it didn't cause the entire building to collapse.

Vincent's cell phone went off again and he promptly answered, knowing who it was. "I'm alright Cloud."

He could hear him breathe a sigh of relief. "Let's wrap up our search and head back. They were using that building and they obviously aren't anymore. If they were in Midgar, they didn't stay for very long."

"Alright, I'll see you at the WRO." Vincent replied before hanging up the phone.

'_**They're being smart and not staying in the same place for very long. It won't be easy to track them down.**_'

Vincent didn't reply. He headed back to the WRO. He needed to get back to Rose.

Rose was standing over the blueprints sitting on the table. She was still trying to figure out how to put the escape route in Rufus's office. She was having a very difficult time figuring this out.

People came in and out of the cafeteria, not really saying anything to her. It was understandable, they were busy.

When the door opened again, she meant to only glance up to see if it was anybody she knew. Her gaze ended up lingering and her eyes narrowed a little. She knew who this was all right.

"Rose, right?" the red headed Turk asked.

"Right." She answered, letting her eyes wander back down to what she was supposed to be concentrating on. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to see how the project was coming along." He answered as he approached her.

"It's coming along fine." She said as she grabbed her protractor and started looking at something.

"It doesn't look like it." He replied, looking at the blueprints spread out over the table.

She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. "And how much do you know about designing a building?"

"Um, well uhhhhh…."

"Exactly." She said, before turning her attention back to the blueprints. She shook her head and stopped what she was doing. That area wasn't going to work either.

Reno was silent for a moment as he watched her work. "Soooooo, do you want to get together sometime and have a drink?"

"I'm already dating somebody." She quickly answered.

"Aw come on Rose. All the single girls say that when they're shy." He replied, reaching to grab her waist.

She slapped his hand away, and it wasn't one that was playful or light. It actually made a small echo in the room. "I said, I'm already dating somebody." She growled at him.

Reno rubbed the area of his wrist that had been slapped. "I have to use that hand later. Jeez, did you have to hit me that hard?"

"Yes. You didn't understand the meaning of the word no." she answered. She moved to her computer and sat down. She started moving the 3D blueprints around trying to get a better angle to see where she could put this escape route.

Reno came up behind her and started watching over her shoulder.

Rose sighed. "Do you really need to hover like this?"

"I'm watching and seeing if I can help." He answered.

"You're inhibiting more than helping." She said. She quickly stood up, making him have to step back so he wouldn't get knocked over.

Reno followed her and looked over her shoulder again as she bent over, looking over the blueprint again.

"You're blocking my light." She said, trying to get him to move away from her.

"What about this area here?" Reno asked, pointing to a corner in the office.

Rose pulled another blueprint towards her and pointed to an area for him. "There are pipes down below. Unless he's an octopus and can slide between them unharmed, I don't think it'll work."

"Oh… Well then, how about-"

"Why don't you go away and let me work?" Rose interrupted.

He just looked at her. "You've got a lot of spunk, I like you." He said. "Your hair is so pretty."

He started to reach out to stroke her golden locks, but his hand was caught. Rose quickly twisted his arm behind him and brought him down to the floor. She quickly put her knee on his back, putting her weight on him to keep him there.

"Touch me again, and I'm breaking your arm." She growled at him.

"Please don't, I kind of need this arm later." He said, gritting his teeth against the pain he was feeling. He heard the door open and hoped it was who he thought it was.

"Oh for what? Lifting your glasses for drinking?" Rose taunted as footsteps approached them.

"Do you always have to push it Reno?" a deeper voice asked.

Rose looked up to see Rude standing over them. "I hope you're here to get him out of my hair."

"In a manner of speaking." He answered. "Please release my partner."

Rose did as he asked and backed away from the two and returned to the blueprints.

Reno stood and moved his arm around. "Owww, that killed." He whined.

"You deserved it."

"Oh come on Rude." Reno said.

"You wouldn't let her be." Rude replied. "Sit down, shut up and let her work."

Rude sat down at one of the tables and Reno reluctantly followed suit, kicking his feet up onto the table and tipping his chair back.

"If you're here too, does that mean Mr. Shinra is also here?" Rose asked. If he was here and was coming to see how things were coming along, she might snap at someone.

"Not presently." Rude answered.

"Good. I don't need him looking over my shoulder too." Rose said as she continued to pour over the blueprints.

Reno crossed his arms behind his head as he leaned back a little more in his chair. "So Rose, where are you from?"

"Not from here." She sighed not looking at him.

"Where?" Reno pressed.

"Not from this planet." Rose clarified for him. She had thought all the Turks would have known this since Shinra had blood taken from her to be sampled to be sure she was human.

Reno let out a small chuckle. "No really, where?"

Rose let out a sarcastic laugh in return. "No really, from a planet called Earth."

Reno let out a nervous chuckle. "Uh, no that can't be..."

"She's telling the truth Reno. Rose is the one who came from another planet." Rude said.

"You mean she's the one who is with…." His question died before he could finish.

"Yes, I'm dating Vincent Valentine." Rose answered his unfinished question.

Reno tried to stand up quickly and ended up falling back with his chair. He scrambled to his feet. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry."

"Did you even read the report Reno?" Rude asked with a sigh.

"I read it... Alright I skimmed it. It's the same thing as reading it." He replied.

"You should have read it more carefully then." Rose commented.

"I did… Look, I'm really sorry. Vincent is a great guy and he's lucky to have you." Reno said.

Rose didn't say anything. She would have said she was lucky to have him. This was the first time they had been apart since finding out about the vampires and that she couldn't… She pushed that thought away for now. She had work to do and couldn't dwell on it at that moment.

She looked at the blueprints as Reno righted his chair and settled back down into it. She looked at a spot she had always skimmed over but now that she looked at it… She went to her computer to look at it in 3D before she did anything else.

Ha! That was going to work. She dialed the head contractor's number. Reno and Rude looked at her as she talked on the phone.

"Hi Dan, it's Rose… You know the east wall in the office?.. No, more to the center of that wall… Yeah… You got it… You leave that to me. I'll get it drawn up for you and I can drop them off for you tomorrow… Okay, I'll see you tomorrow… Bye."

"I'm guessing you got it figured out." Reno said.

"Yes, I just have to draw it up. Now will you leave me alone so I can get my work done?" Rose said.

"Yes, we can do that." Rude answered.

"See you tomorrow maybe." Reno said as he followed Rude to the door.

Rose sighed as she watched Rude practically drag him out the door. She had a feeling she was going to see more of Shinra and the Turks as she did more business with him.

Thirty minutes later, Rose almost had the new part of the blueprint drawn up when someone entered the cafeteria again. She looked up to see a young woman who was in WRO soldier garb with a four year old girl. The little girl had light brown curly hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a pink jumper with a white shirt with little pink hearts on it.

"Are you Rose?"

"Yes, I am." She answered.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your work, I know you're busy. Could you watch my daughter for a little while? I have some things I need to do and I can't have her with me." She said.

"Yeah, she'll be fine here. I'm almost finished with this anyway. Watching her won't be a problem." Rose replied.

Relief washed over the young woman's face before turning to her daughter. "Emily, you behave for Rose and listen to her, okay?"

The little girl gave her mother a small nod. Her mother picked her up and gave her a hug before putting her down. She thanked Rose before leaving the room. Emily scooted out the chair across from Rose before sitting down in it.

Rose pulled out her small back pack she had brought with her and unzipped it. "Emily, do you like to draw?"

The little girl gave a small nod.

Rose smiled as she pulled out her new sketch book she had recently bought along with some colored pencils. She stood up and went around the table and set them in front of her. "Draw as much as you want." She told her before sitting down in her own chair and getting back to work.

Emily seemed to look at the sketch book and pencils before pulling both towards her. She opened the book uncertainly and stared at the blank page for a moment. She opened the box of pencils and after looking at them for a moment she picked up a blue pencil and started to draw.

Rose smiled as she finished up her work. Twenty minutes later she finally finished the new blueprint. She carefully put them away in her suitcase she had with her. Once they were put away she looked across the table to see how Emily was doing. She wasn't sitting in her chair, the sketch book and pencils were still sitting on the table.

She stood up, thinking she may have left the room without her knowing it. She started for the door, but stopped when she saw eyes peeking over the top of one of the tables to her left.

Emily giggled as she ran to another table and crawled underneath it. Rose chuckled to herself as she made her way over there.

"Emily where did you go?" she said, stopping in front of the table she was hiding under. "I could have sworn she went over here."

Rose took a few steps from the table to another one. "Does she have the ability to turn invisible?" she wondered aloud to herself, smiling when she heard Emily quietly giggle under the table. "If that's true I won't be able to find her."

Emily giggled again as she crawled from her hiding spot under the table to another one. Rose carefully watched her out of the corner of her eye.

"There was nothing to be found in the Mythril Mines and the people at Fort Condor haven't seen anything suspicious. They said they would keep their eyes open though." Sephiroth said in the small computer room from before.

"Are you sure you looked everywhere?" Reeve asked.

"Trust us Reeve. We looked in every nook and cranny of that place and didn't find a damn thing." Cid said. "We left no stone unturned."

"The three bodies that Vincent found in the old Shinra building is unsettling though. They were that close to home and nobody realized it." Reeve said.

"There were no traces of them in the ruins of Midgar though. They weren't there for very long." Cloud said.

Reeve sighed. "Tifa and Yuffie are checking out Wutai and the surrounding area. Barrett is having the residents of Corel keep an eye out. Tomorrow we'll check out Bone Village, Costa Del Sol and the Forgotten City."

"Aerith and I will check out the Forgotten City and the Sleeping Forest." Sephiroth said.

"I'll take Bone Village." Cloud said. "I'll go with you and Aerith and you can drop me off there."

Reeve looked at Vincent. "Do you think you and Rose could take Costa Del Sol? It'll be too big for just you to look around there."

"I'll talk to Rose, so she'll be prepared." Vincent said.

Reeve nodded. "Alright. We'll set out first thing tomorrow morning. Everybody get some rest."

The three left Reeve in the computer room and dispersed in the branching hallways of the WRO. Vincent headed to the cafeteria, knowing that was where Rose had gone to get some work done.

'_**Until she has gained more experience, you keep that girl close to you at all times.**_'

'I know.' Vincent replied.

'_**If you had been smart enough, you would have let her out more and get more experience.**_' Chaos commented. '_**Locking her away from the outside world won't keep her safe forever Vincent.**_'

Vincent hated to admit it, but Chaos was right. It was pretty stupid to have left her at home, at Seventh Heaven and at the WRO when she could have gotten more experience. It would come in handy for her if they were attacked at all. Vincent hoped that wouldn't happen as he walked into the cafeteria.

"I'm going to find you. Any second now." Rose said as she peered underneath tables.

Vincent opened his mouth to ask her what she was doing, but he caught sight of a little girl crouched down by a table. She had looked back at the door to see who had come in and her eyes had widened in terror.

Vincent recognized the young girl. She was the daughter of one of the WRO soldiers. She was a single mother, raising her on her own as he recalled. Emily quickly stood and ran around the tables towards Rose.

'_**Look at that. She's still scared of you.**_'

Rose's attention was brought to Emily as she grabbed her leg then lifted her arms to be picked up, giving small whimpers.

"What's the matter?" Rose asked as she lifted her into her arms. Then she caught sight of Vincent standing by the door. "Emily that's Vincent. He's the sweetest guy, he's not going to hurt you."

Emily peeked over her shoulder before burying her face in Rose's shoulder, giving a small sob.

"Okay Rose, I'm ba-" the WRO soldier returned and saw Rose holding Emily. She looked at Vincent next to her. "I'm sorry." She said before making her way over to Rose.

"Don't be." Vincent replied.

"Okay Emily, come here." She said as she took the little girl from her arms. "Thanks again Rose."

"No need to thank me. I enjoyed her company." Rose replied. "Bye, bye Emily. I hope to see you again soon."

Emily gave Rose a small wave as she was carried out of the room by her mother. She buried her face in her mother's shoulder as they passed Vincent on the way out.

'_**I'll never understand human kids. Just because you can't see us doesn't mean we can't see you.**_'

"Don't worry about it Vincent. I'm sure her fear of you won't last forever." Rose said as she gathered up her sketch book and colored pencils. She would have to remember to give the picture to Reeve to give to Emily's mother.

'If she only knew the people you've come across.' Chaos snickered.

"Were you able to get your work done?" Vincent asked as she gathered her bag and suitcase.

She nodded. "I just have to get the new ones to the head contractor in the morning."

"Give them to Reeve. He'll be able to get them there for you." Vincent said. "We're going to Costa Del Sol tomorrow morning."

She gave him a confused look. "Why are we going there exactly?"

"You're coming with me to look for any places vampires may be lurking and get rid of them if we can." He answered.

"…And you're sure you think I'm ready for this?"

"I know you're ready for this Rose. You've been ready." He answered. "Come on, we'll go prepare and get some rest. We'll need the energy tomorrow."

"Did anybody find anything?" Rose asked as they made their way down the hall.

"I found three bodies in the old Shinra building. We couldn't identify them because the upper floors collapsed before I could get them out of there." He said.

"I hope they'll be able to rest." She said. She was sorry they wouldn't be able to have a proper burial.

"I hope so too." Vincent replied.

Rose followed him into the private room they were using. She knew it would be difficult, but she had to get as much rest as she could for what awaited them the next day.

_A/N: I love Emily. She's so adorable. She might make another appearance in the story, but I'm not sure yet. I hope this chapter was enjoyable and stay tuned for the next one. P.S. I may be moving very, very soon so the next chapter may come a bit late depending on how quickly my friend and I will be able to move._

_Rose With 2 Sides: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. It just seemed like something Yuffie would do on a whim and it made me laugh just thinking about it._

_MysticPhoenix1992: I also feel sorry for her. They'll support each other as they face the obstacles. Don't worry though. There's plenty of happiness ahead of them. Things will get interesting as the vampires show up._

_SilverNeira: All I can really say without giving anything away is you'll have to wait and see XD._


	18. Confusion

_Not really sure if the title of this chapter really fits. Might be changing that in the future. Don't really have much to say here, so go ahead and enjoy the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 17 Confusion

The group left early the next morning. Cloud, Sephiroth and Aerith went in one airship, another went to Wutai to pick up Tifa and Yuffie and Cid took Vincent and Rose to Costa del Sol.

Rose stood in front of the window and watched the sea fly by underneath. She had butterflies in her stomach. She was nervous to finally be doing this, but at the same time maybe she wasn't quite ready for this? She forced that thought away. It was either you're ready or you're not. There was no in between for this. She had the training and she had done well at Cosmo Canyon. Vincent was right, she was ready for this.

She also knew that with Vincent there, she would be fine.

It didn't take them long to get to Costa del Sol. It was just a short flight across the ocean and finding a place to park outside of town.

"We'll stay here and watch the ship so nothing happens to her. You two go ahead and take a look around." Cid said.

"We'll be back by sunset." Vincent said before leaving the helm room, Rose following close behind.

The two climbed out of the airship and made their way towards the town.

"Rose, you understand why it's just the two of us going in there right?" Vincent said as they walked.

She nodded. "To keep a low profile. The less they know about our coming, the better chance we have to surprise them."

Vincent nodded. He knew she knew that, but somehow felt he needed to make sure.

"Vincent, how do we know if someone is a vampire? Do we tell from their teeth? Will they have fangs that we'll be able to see?" Rose asked.

He shook his head. "No. The only time their fangs appear is when there is a promise of blood. When they know they'll be able to get blood, their fangs will show."

"Then how will we know if someone is a vampire?" Rose asked.

"We look for people who are a bit paler than normal and are acting suspicious."

"This is going to be difficult then." Rose commented, making Vincent look at her. "This is Costa del Sol. It's warm and it's sunny. Don't people usually come here to get a tan?"

'_**She's got a point, but I'll be able to help you in finding them. You just have to get close enough that I'll be able to pick up their scent. That way you'll know for sure.**_'

"Chaos will be able to help us out with finding them." Vincent said.

"Hm?" Rose said, giving him a curious look. Chaos was inside Vincent. How could he possibly help?

"Chaos will be able to detect the scent of a vampire." He explained.

"….Then why didn't he pick up the scent on the first body we found?" Rose asked.

Vincent didn't have an answer for that. He was silent as he waited for Chaos to answer that.

'_**After a heavy rain like that most of the scent had been washed away. I thought I picked up traces of the scent, but I wasn't sure so I kept my mouth shut.**_'

"Most of the scent had been washed away from the rain." Vincent answered for him.

"Oh. That makes sense." Rose replied.

They made their way through town. They scanned the beach, not really going onto it. They weren't dressed for it and they didn't want to draw more attention onto themselves. After observing the area and seeing nobody suspicious they made their way back into town.

They were scanning shops and stores when one caught Rose's eye. She stopped to really look at it.

"My mom would be telling me off right now for even looking." She said as she made her way towards the motorcycles.

"You're mom didn't like them?" Vincent asked as he followed her.

"Not after dad died." She answered. She approached the one that was darker than the others. "Ohh, it's midnight blue. It's gorgeous."

"You've got a good eye young lady." The salesman said, stepping towards them. "Are you looking to buy?"

"No, I'm just looking right now." Rose said. "It is a beautiful bike though."

"It is. This little gem is only 13,580 gil if you're ever interested in buying." The salesman replied.

"Thank you." Rose said. They turned and walked away from the place. "Should we look around outside of town?"

"It would be a good idea." Vincent replied.

"Vincent Valentine. I knew you would come back." A female voice purred.

He withheld a sigh and turned. Rose also turned to see who was talking to Vincent. It was a young woman with light brown hair with blonde highlights. Rose could tell at first glance that she was a beautiful woman.

"I'm here on business." He replied.

"Oh, I'm sure you are." She said, then noticed Rose. "Who is she, a friend?"

'_**Like it's really any of her business.**_'

"She's more than a friend." Vincent answered.

Her eyes flared at that. "Then what the hell is wrong with me? You have a thing against brunettes?!"

"No." Vincent answered. "I knew it wouldn't work so I didn't try."

That just angered the woman more. Her eyes flared even more and she raised her hand.

That was it. Rose wasn't going to just stand by and watch this happen. She grabbed her hand before it could connect and twisted her arm behind her back. Then she pushed her away from the two of them.

"You bitch!"

"Get out of here before I really hurt you." Rose warned.

The young lady surprisingly took Rose's warning to heart because she actually did leave. She muttered under her breath as she walked away and moved her arm around as she did.

"I hate people like that." Rose said as she started walk again.

Vincent stood where he was for a moment, stunned. He quickly moved to catch up to her.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I wasn't going to stand by and watch her insult you like that." She replied.

"…Where did you learn to do that?" he asked.

"Tifa." She answered simply.

"Rose…"

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

She smiled at him. She reached for his left hand even though it presently had the gauntlet and entwined their fingers. "Let's see if we can't hunt down some vampires."

Evening was starting to fall. They had searched the town and the surrounding area all day and didn't find anything. Rose was watching the waves crash into the rocks below the cliffs as she watched the sunset. Vincent was talking to Reeve on his cell phone to let him know they hadn't found anything.

She took in a deep breath, smelling the sea air. Something caught her eye down below. It was a cave and…blue light coming from it. She squinted, trying to see what it was. It was faint but it was blue light.

"Rose, let's head back to the airship." Vincent said, approaching her from behind.

"Vincent, you see that right?" she said, pointing to the cave.

Vincent took a moment to look at the cave. "Yeah."

Good, she wasn't seeing things. "Should we go check it out?"

Vincent took a moment to look at the cliff side. They would have to climb down, but it looked like they wouldn't have to use a rope to get there.

"Let me give Cid a call and let him know we're checking out one last place." He finally answered.

"Vincent, where the hell are you?" Rose heard Cid's voice over the phone.

"There's one last place Rose and I want to check out before heading back." He answered.

"I don't think that's very wise Vincent." Cid replied.

"We're going to go check it out and we'll head back to the airship."

"Vincent, you two get the hell back-" And he was cut off.

"You think you can handle the climb alright?" Vincent asked as they looked at the cave.

Rose surveyed the cliff herself. It looked easy enough. "Yeah, I think so."

Vincent nodded and they made the climb down. They carefully made it across the rocks to the cave. When they got there they were greeted by a soft blue glow.

"Yuffie's going to be ticked at us. We found a mako cave." Rose quietly muttered.

"We'll tell her about it after this ordeal is over." Vincent said.

"Yeah sorry. Refocusing." Rose said.

They entered the cave and Vincent stopped Rose before they got too far in.

"Rose, vampires look like humans but… They will kill you without a second thought when given the chance. If you do land a killing blow, it's normal to feel guilty about it but you need to end the fight as soon as possible." He said.

"I know." She replied, taking in a breath. "Let's go."

Vincent nodded and led her into the cave. After walking a ways into it, the cave opened up into a more open area. The mako crystals were everywhere lighting it up. Anywhere beyond that point was pitch black. They didn't have any way of seeing in there so they decided to head back.

That was when they heard a female voice laughing.

This caught Rose's attention immediately. She started looking around the room, trying to pinpoint where the laughing was coming from. This caused the female voice to laugh even harder.

"It's about time you showed up." The voice chuckled.

She jumped down from her hidden perch. She was young looking and her eyes lit up unnaturally by the mako. Her hair was dark, though it was hard to tell what color it was in this light.

"The one the boss wants walks right to us." A male voice said.

A young man walked into the light. He appeared to be the same age as the woman, except his hair was lighter.

The woman shot him a glare after he spoke, causing him to flinch.

"Anyway, I'm Minerva and this is Jake." She said, shooting him another glare.

"We're not here for friendly introductions." Rose said.

Minerva shook her head. "You're going to make this as difficult as possible aren't you?"

The answer she was given was of Vincent and Rose readying their weapons.

"That's a yes." Minerva sighed and looked at the young man. "Try not to mess up and kill her."

That made Rose's heart leap and Minerva laughed.

"Shocker." She taunted as she retrieved her sword.

Rose put that information at the back of her mind. She would dwell on that later. Vincent did the same as Minerva went after him. Jake cracked his knuckles before going after Rose.

Using the gauntlets Yuffie and Tifa had given her Rose was able to block his attack and go on the offensive. The punches she threw were blocked but her kick to his head wasn't. He tried to backhand her, but she ducked, and knocked his feet out from under him. She grabbed one of her throwing stars and threw it at him, aiming for his heart. It skidded off on the floor of the cave as he had flipped himself out of the way.

Minerva didn't really seem to want to attack Vincent. Every time he shot at her she either dodged it, or deflected it with her sword. Whenever he turned his attention to Rose and her fight with the other vampire she attacked him, to get his attention back onto her.

She was serving as a distraction to him so he couldn't get to Rose and help her. So it was true what they had said. Their leader really was interested in Rose.

Rose continued her fight with Jake. She had tried twice to throw another throwing star at him, only to have it deflected or dodged.

He came at her with his elbow, causing her to cross her arms in front of her to block it. He was pushing his weight on her, causing her to get backed up into the wall of the cave. He leaned his head down and grinned. She could see his fangs lengthen. He was going to try and bite her.

She couldn't allow that. She tapped into her bolt materia causing him to fly back away from her. At the last second she threw another star just as he was righting himself and this time she hit her mark. It buried itself deep in his chest, piercing his heart.

He sank back down into the floor of the cave. His face frozen in shock and surprise.

"Damn it." Minerva cursed. She flipped back away from Vincent and disappeared into the darkness. "Better hurry. The tide is coming in." she taunted as she fled into the darkness. "Search for the natural fountain if you want to find us." Her voice echoed.

'_**As much as we should go after her, you better get out of here.**_' Chaos said.

"Rose, we need to get out of here." Vincent said. "Can you run?"

"Yeah." She said, though she was a little out of breath. "Let's go."

They ran towards the mouth of the cave, keeping an eye out behind them as they did so.

Minerva wasn't lying when she said the tide was coming in. Water was starting to flood in as they got closer to the entrance. When they got there they found the sun had almost completely set and the tide coming in rapidly.

Vincent could tell Rose was tired but she had enough energy to climb up the cliff. After getting to the top they didn't waste any time on getting back to the airship. Once they were aboard they were given the order to take off and Cid greeted them in the helm room.

"What the hell were you thinking going in there by yourselves this late?!"

"We came back alive and in one piece, didn't we?" Rose said.

"That's not the point!"

"Cid, calm down." Vincent said.

"Why?!"

"Because we have information." Vincent answered.

"And we do have one less to worry about." Rose added.

"I don't care what you accomplished! You shouldn't have gone down there by yourselves just as the sun is setting!" he yelled.

"Captain, where to?" the WRO soldier asked from behind the helm.

"To the WRO, where do you think?!" he yelled at him.

Rose backed out of the helm room. She loved Cid, but she could only take so much of his yelling at the moment.

"You shouldn't have taken her down there! What if she had gotten killed or worse turned into one of them?!" he rounded on Vincent, hardly noticing Rose had left.

"She was more prepared than you give her credit for Cid. She did an excellent job, even though she is under experienced." Vincent replied.

Cid calmed a little. "Vincent, if something had happened to her…" he gave a small sigh. "We don't want to see you go into another relapse. You're the happiest that we've seen you since… well since we've met you."

Vincent stopped to think about that. He was right. After what he had allowed to happen to Lucrecia he had been very melancholy. If something were to happen to Rose, he may not be able to go on living.

Cid spoke again when Vincent didn't reply. "Take care of her Vincent." He then went to the helm and freed the WRO soldier from it so he could go about his duties on the ship.

Vincent turned to see if Rose was alright, but she wasn't there. He exited the helm room, but she wasn't in the hallway outside either.

'She must have gone for a walk around the ship.' Vincent thought to himself. He thought about going to find her, but hesitated. Maybe she would rather be left alone for a bit. He didn't want to hover around her when she didn't want him.

'What the hell are you thinking? Of course she wants you around.'

'I don't want to overdo it by trying too much.' He replied.

'At the same time she needs your support, doesn't she?'

'….' Vincent didn't have an answer for that. He didn't want to hover around her when she didn't need him…but the last time he had just stood by…

He headed for the lower part of the ship. Maybe she had gone to check out the engine room this time.

Rose had headed for the engine room. She hadn't intended to go there, it just happened. She stopped in the doorway and didn't go in. It was bustling inside and she didn't want to get in the way. She watched the WRO soldiers work in the engine room before stepping back, letting the door close again.

She was about to go back down the small hallway again when she stopped and looked to her right, curious as to what she would find.

It really had happened.

She turned to the wall and reached a hand out and stroked the claw marks that had been embedded deep into the wall.

She became aware of a presence on the other end of the hallway, watching her.

"How difficult is he to control?"

"Hmm?"

She turned to look at Vincent. "How difficult is Chaos to control?"

"…It depends on the situation." He answered.

She nodded as she turned her gaze at the claw marks.

'_**She's scared of me now.**_'

"I won't let him hurt you." Vincent said as he approached her.

"That's not what I'm worried about." She quietly replied.

"It's about what had been said back in the cave, isn't it?" he said.

She nodded. "It gives me the chills to think that I've been watched." She turned her attention back to him. "What could they possibly want with me?"

"I don't know." He answered as he pulled her into a hug. "I promise, I won't let anything happen to you."

It was already late at night when they returned to the WRO. Yuffie, Tifa and Cloud were already there talking to Reeve when Vincent, Cid and Rose showed up.

"Where's Sephiroth and Aerith?" Rose asked.

"With Leanne." Cloud answered. "Aerith had a dizzy spell on the way back and they went to get her checked out."

Rose nodded, obviously concerned for her. She hoped that Aerith would be alright.

"I know we're all worried about her, but we need to try and focus on the task at hand." Reeve said. "According to Cloud, he, Sephiroth and Aerith didn't find anything. Tifa and Yuffie did fight off a vampire, but he got away. I got a call from Barret not long ago. He said he hasn't found anything yet and that he's going to keep an eye out. We know you three didn't find anything."

"Actually, Vincent and Rose fought off a couple of vampires in a cave." Cid said. "They were able to kill one of them."

"The one that got away said something about a natural fountain." Rose said.

"That's what the vampire that we fought said too." Tifa said.

"What could be a natural fountain?" Yuffie questioned aloud.

"We'll figure it out." Vincent said.

"We have to." Rose added.

"Sephiroth." Cloud said, making everyone turn to the door as he walked through.

"How's Aerith? Is she alright?" Rose asked.

He nodded. "She's resting right now."

"She's not sick, is she?" Yuffie asked.

He shook his head. "No. She's…pregnant."

"That's wonderful." Yuffie said as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands.

"I would be more enthusiastic, if it was a better time." Sephiroth replied.

"Sephiroth, nothing will happen to her or the baby. We'll all make sure of that." Rose tried to assure him.

Yuffie's enthusiasm didn't buckle. "It's really wonderful Sephiroth. Hmmmm, I wonder who will be next. Tifa and Cloud or Rose and Vincent." She said, looking between the two couples.

Rose shook her head. "It's not going to be us Yuffie."

"Don't be so hard on yourself Rose, you'll make a great mother." Yuffie said.

Tifa nodded in agreement. "Yes Rose, you'll make a wonderful mother."

"I can't." Rose quietly said.

"Of course you can." Yuffie pressed.

"No Yuffie. I can't means I can't. It's impossible for me to have children." Rose said.

Yuffie was a little shocked by that. "Rose…I…"

"Don't worry about it." Rose said, her vision starting to become blurry. She turned and excused herself, muttering about needing to get some fresh air. She congratulated Sephiroth on her way out.

"Rose!" Yuffie called, starting to go after her.

"Yuffie, let her go." Vincent said, stopping the young ninja.

She looked at him. "But-"

"Let her go." Vincent repeated. Rose had left abruptly so she wanted to be alone. Vincent would allow her to be alone for a while before going after her.

Rose made her way through the WRO blinking away her tears, eventually making her way to the roof. It was cold and the wind whipped around her as it started to pick up.

She looked out into the open plains. How long had they been watching her? Was she being watched right now? What could they possibly want from her? What could they have meant about a natural fountain?

These thoughts did not keep her from the thoughts that had caused her tears. They suddenly came more thickly and she couldn't fight them off.

She fell to her knees and allowed herself to break down.

_A/N: I think this one may have been a bit dull. I'm sorry about the short fight scene, but if you've read my other stories before this one you would know I'm not very good at fighting scenes. I don't know why. They always look good in my head, but not on paper. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer and more things happening. Thank you so much to those who are reading and reviewing. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this. Stay tuned for the next chapter._

_SilverNeira: I can assure you, Rose and Vincent's relationship will be alright. As for nothing going wrong…You'll have to wait and see._

_alesana4ever: I hope you get up and running again on your psp soon. Don't worry about giving quick reviews, do it when you can. I'm just glad you're enjoying the story so far._

_MysticPhoenix1992: I'm really happy that you're enjoying this story so far. The vampires have now started to show up and hopefully I can still give relatively quick updates._


	19. Fight's End?

_This chapter starts off on a bit of a time skip. To give detailed information to follow the last chapter would be very dull and drawn out. I don't want to do that. It would be boring to write and it would be boring for you to read, so we're going to go ahead and do a small time skip. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 18 Fight's End?

Rose made her way down the hallway of the WRO. It was almost mid October now and they still didn't have any clue as to where to find where the hideout of the vampires was located. Reeve had called another meeting in the computer room to discuss more ideas on where to find this natural fountain.

In all of the places they had looked, they only ran into a few vampires. None of them had been ones they had run into before and only one of them had survived an encounter with the group.

Rose let out a small sigh. She honestly didn't know what would come out of this meeting. They would most likely decide to revisit the places they already had checked out and see if they had missed anything.

She believed that wouldn't help. She, Vincent and Sephiroth had revisited the mako cave back at Cost del Sol, enabled to see in the darkness and they had found nothing.

They weren't going to figure out anything new with this meeting. She already knew this. She released another sigh before she walked through the door.

The meeting really didn't last that long. Nobody had any new ideas on where to look and what to look for. Rose didn't expect as much. She too didn't have any fresh ideas on where to look or what the natural fountain could mean.

She wandered the halls of the WRO, thinking about other places they could look and what she should do to help her think.

Maybe she could find Yuffie to spar with…no. Yuffie had been avoiding her like the plague since Rose had told her and almost everyone else that she couldn't have children.

Tifa was most likely spending time with Cloud, so sparing with her was also out of the question.

Vincent was busy going over areas with Reeve again so she really couldn't ask him.

There really was nobody else she could really spar with except for Sephiroth and that was pretty much a death wish. Besides, he was busy trying to keep Aerith safe and plan for a baby at the same time.

She decided to go to the training area and beat on a punching bag. It would get her blood flowing and hopefully help her brain to think up some new ideas. She got caught behind a couple of female WRO soldiers talking to each other. They weren't walking slowly so Rose didn't mind.

"Mr. Shinra has been having a lot of construction going on in that one building lately." One said.

"Yeah I know." The other replied. "It's not nearly as big as the last one in Midgar, but I can't shake the feeling that he's up to something."

"From what I gather he's trying to conduct some research on new ways to conduct electricity." The first one said.

That last statement made Rose stop in her tracks. All thoughts about going to the training area was suddenly forgotten. Research, records, the fountain…something clicked. It made sense now. She turned and dashed back to the computer room where she hoped she would find Reeve.

"A natural fountain… Unless they're talking about a waterfall, I don't know what they could possibly mean by a natural fountain." Reeve said.

"If they do mean waterfalls then it'll be impossible to find them. There are so many waterfalls on the planet and we won't be able to find them all." Vincent said.

"We really don't have any other choice." Reeve said.

"Reeve, it'll be impossible." Sephiroth added, looking at the map. "There are too many waterfalls on this planet and more are being discovered constantly. It's impossible."

Nobody else had a chance to say anything. The door suddenly opened and Rose hurried in, gasping for air.

"I think…I know…what they mean…by a natural…fountain." She said between gasps.

"Catch your breath first." Reeve said. "Where did you run from?"

"Training area." She answered.

"You ran all the way from there?" he asked.

"No big deal." She replied.

Sephiroth couldn't help but chuckle at that. It wasn't a big deal yet she was gasping for air.

"Okay, bear with me on this because I could be wrong and the place may not exist." Rose said after she had caught her breath. "In the game Dirge of Cerberus, thanks to Shelke we're able to see some of the memories Lucrecia left behind digitally. In one of those memories she was exploring a cave with Vincent's father where Chaos was destined to awake. I think that is where they're hiding at, Lucrecia's cave."

The three men exchanged confused looks.

"What makes you think that's where they're hiding?" Vincent asked.

"In the memory she excitedly hurries into the cave. Grimoire told her the fountain isn't going anywhere. That's why I think that's where they're hiding." Rose explained. "They told us to look for the natural fountain. The mako that Lucrecia entombed herself in is a natural mako fountain."

Sephiroth's hands balled into fists. "If that's true, then they had better not have touched my mother." He growled.

It took some planning and convincing, but they made the decision of who was going to go and check the place out. Tifa, Cid and Barret would stay at the WRO and keep an eye on Aerith for Sephiroth. Vincent, Sephiroth, Cloud, Yuffie and Rose will go to Cosmo Canyon and from there Cloud and Sephiroth were going to watch the falls of Lucrecia's cave to see if there was any activity there.

Rose was checking and rechecking her equipment while they waited for word from Sephiroth and Cloud. She wanted to be ready if they went in and didn't want to be caught off guard and possibly get killed.

She knew with the others there, that wouldn't happen easily, but she also didn't want anything to happen to them because of her screw up. She didn't want to take any chances.

Yuffie came up behind her. "Rose, about the other day… Really, I'm sorry."

"Don't be Yuffie. I'm the one who got emotional. I'm the one who should be sorry." Rose replied.

"No, I was the one who brought it up." She said.

Rose placed a hand on her shoulder. "Everything's been said and done. Don't worry about it."

Yuffie nodded, though a little reluctantly. "It's just…it's not fair Rose. You're still young. This shouldn't have been taken away from you."

Rose turned back to her equipment and started to get things put on and organized. "That may be true, but there is always the option to adopt and we can help Cloud and Tifa with the kids they find."

"Still…I would have liked to have seen you two have kids of your own." Yuffie said. "Vincent has been…a lot happier than we've really ever seen him. You've really made him happy Rose and we're so glad that he found you."

"I'm really glad that I met him." Rose replied. "This is the happiest that I've ever been in the past years."

"We're all happy you two found each other. We're all happy for you two." Yuffie said.

It was then that Vincent made his appearance in the door. "Rose, Yuffie. Sephiroth and Cloud have called and confirmed that there is activity is going on there. We're going to go meet them and go on from there."

After checking their equipment one last time they headed out to meet them.

The plan was simple. There were three branches that lead into this cave. Sephiroth and Cloud would take the path to the right. Vincent, Yuffie and Rose would take the one on the left. After taking care of the vampires there, they would check on Lucrecia's tomb and see if there was any damage done.

They quietly entered the cave, not wanting to make too much noise and alert them that they were there. When they got to the hallways that branched off, Cloud and Sephiroth went to the right and the rest of them went to the left.

When Sephiroth and Cloud entered the room to the right, they were quickly engaged by three vampires there. They were more skilled than the previous ones, and didn't seem to want to engage in full combat. They were dodging and avoiding attacks than they were attacking.

When Vincent, Yuffie and Rose got to the cave opening on the left, they were greeted by five vampires. Three were male and two were female, one of which was Minerva.

"It took you long enough to find us." The male sitting against materia said. He looked up at the group. "I've been waiting for you Rose."

"What do you want with me?" she asked.

He chuckled as he stood up. "Nothing more than to make you my mate."

She readied her weapons, as did the other two.

"Over my dead body." She said through gritted teeth.

"We don't want that." The apparent leader said.

That was when the five vampires launched their attack on the three. Like last time, Minerva went after Vincent, two vampires, one male and the other female, went after Yuffie, and the leader and the last vampire went after Rose.

Just like last time, Minerva danced around Vincent, deflecting and dodging his attacks. She only attacked him to get his attention from either of the other two and back onto her.

Yuffie's two vampires seemed to do the same thing. The male perished quickly due to Yuffie's large shuriken. The other seemed more experienced and was enjoying dodging her attacks.

Rose kept her wits about her as the two vampires attacked her. She threw a couple of her throwing stars at the leader, but he deflected them easily.

She was able to give a spinning kick to the other as he tried to attack her from behind. She quickly cart wheeled from between the two, putting her back against the wall so she could keep an eye on both of them and not worry about getting attacked from behind.

She tapped into her fire materia and sent it at the leader, but he was able to dodge it at the last second.

The other vampire rushed at her, but she was able to tap into her bolt materia and was able to hit her mark on him.

She had just enough time to send a throwing star his way as he was getting up. It sunk deep into his chest before he fell to the floor of the cave.

Just then the leader came upon her, and fast.

Rose knew she wouldn't be able to tap into any of her materia in time. Just as he reached her, she threw her hand up into his chest, sinking her hidden blade deep into his chest. He sunk to the ground, Rose letting him slide off the blade.

Yuffie too had just finished off the other vampire as the leader fell.

Vincent however was not successful in killing Minerva.

As the last of her comrades fell, she let out a yell before taking off out of the room. Vincent shot at her back, but she miraculously dodged the bullets.

The three chased her out into the branching hallways. They ran into Sephiroth and Cloud and they chased her into the cave that held Lucrecia's tomb. They saw her run in, but they didn't know where she had gone from there.

"She's certainly good at disappearing acts, isn't she?" Rose said.

"There are several different tunnel systems that lead off from this room. Some go farther into the mountain and there are different exits. It's a huge maze, we won't be able to find her in there." Vincent said.

"Yeah, there's no way we'll be able to find her. The most we'll do is get ourselves lost in there." Cloud said.

"I want to check everything in here. If they harmed anything in here, I'll hunt them down myself." Sephiroth growled before fully entering the room, Vincent following him.

Rose took a step to follow them in, but a hand was put on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Rose, its best you wait here." Cloud said. "Let them check the room and we'll be on our way out of here."

Rose gave a small inaudible sigh as she leaned against the wall of the hallway to the cave. "So what now? Their leader is dead and the rest are somewhere. Do we look for them?"

"There's always vampires somewhere Rose. We'd never be able to find them all. This is the first group that had made so much trouble in several years." Yuffie said.

"Yeah. We watch the situation for now. If they start things up again, then we get involved again. If they don't, then the problem has been taken care of." Cloud explained.

"What will this group do now?" Rose wondered aloud.

"They'll select a new leader and go from there." Cloud answered. "We can only hope that the new one won't cause any more problems."

"Since vampires need blood in order to fully thrive then do they feed on wildlife instead of humans?" Rose asked.

Yuffie nodded. "Yeah. Not all of them can control themselves at the smell of humans so they tend to stay away from society. Those that can control themselves usually don't stick around for too long since people get uneasy about them being a vampire."

"Understandable." She replied.

Movement from the cave ahead caught their attention. The group looked to the two men as they walked out.

"How is everything in there?" Cloud asked.

"Everything remains untouched." Sephiroth answered.

"That's good. I'm glad her resting place is alright." Rose said.

Cloud nodded in agreement. "Let's get back so we can report to Reeve and let everyone know the situation now."

Everyone nodded in agreement before making their way back down the tunnel and out of the cave.

"So, they all fell?"

"Yes Nicolai, my lord." Minerva answered as she kneeled before him.

"And you weren't followed?" he asked with scrutinizing eyes.

"I'm sure of it. I used the maze of tunnels in that place. There is no way they could have followed me." She said.

"Good." He replied. He adjusted himself in his seat, seeming to be thinking about his next move.

"My lord, what are your orders? What is our next move?" Minerva asked, eager to get going.

"We…will do nothing." He answered.

Her eyes widened at this. "What?! What do you mean do nothing?"

"Exactly what it means. We'll do nothing." Nicolai repeated.

"They think that Lee was the leader. We should attack now when they think it's all over." Minerva said.

"You are correct when you say they think it's over now. We are going to do nothing for a while and let them truly think that it's all over. Let them settle back down into their lives again, then we'll attack. They won't see it coming." He explained. "Once AVALANCHE and the WRO is taken care of and Rose by my side we will take over this planet."

"What is so special about Rose? Why not make me your mate and we'll take over this world together? I've been nothing but faithful to you my lord? Why do it this way?" she questioned.

"Because, Rose is not of this planet." He answered. "If she's with AVALANCHE and the WRO, then she must be very powerful."

The group dispersed pretty quickly after everything was told at the WRO. Reeve had insisted that everyone rest while his organization kept an eye on things.

Rose just couldn't get herself to relax, even after it had been a week since they had taken care of the leader of the vampires.

Vincent had sensed her unease and had tried to assure her that Reeve was keeping an eye on things and if something came up, he would let them know immediately. It had been a week. If they had not killed the original leader then they most likely would have attacked by now, or continued to attack even without a leader.

Rose stood by the window in the bedroom as she watched the rain fall in sheets outside. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Vincent pull up to the house. He had gone out on an errand before the rain had gotten bad. She had been worried about him but was relieved now that he was home.

She heard Dixie greet him in the front hall and Vincent's voice as he spoke to her. Shortly afterwards he made his way upstairs and entered the bedroom.

"Hi." She greeted, but couldn't help but chuckle at his soaked hair. "That'll teach you to go out in the rain." She teased lightly.

"Never stopped me before." He replied with a small smile before making his way towards the bathroom. He came back running a towel through his wet hair. Rose had moved to sit on the bed and she looked to be deep in thought. "Rose, you're still not worried about the vampires, are you?" he asked.

She glanced at him, before letting her eyes fall back to the floor. "I…I'm sorry. I just can't seem to let it go. I guess until nothing happens for a while longer, I won't be able to relax about this."

Vincent sat next to her and put his arm around her, pulling her close to him. It seemed to be the only way that he could comfort her.

_A/N: I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter up. Thank you for your patience in waiting for it. I had moved into an apartment with a friend, it took about a week to get the internet, and between that, unpacking and the stress of the move I really didn't want to do anything for quite a while. Still have some boxes to unpack, but other than that we're pretty much settled in our new place. Hopefully I'll be updating more often now that we're finished with the move and unpacking. Again I apologize for the wait and thank you for your patience._

_SilverNeira: I ask some patience and to have some faith in me. I have some great plans for them for their future. You have nothing to fear XD_

_MysticPhoenix1992: Yes, the vampires have shown up. Things will get interesting from here on out._


	20. Halloween

_Aaaaaand, here is the next chapter. I'm so sorry for the VERY long wait for this one. This was meant to be posted for Halloween…that was a big fail on my part. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. I'm going to tell you now, things don't really happen in this chapter, but it's a little fun all the same. I hope you enjoy. Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them. All music belong to their respective owners._

Chapter 19 Halloween

"Will you stop taking the eyes?!" Rose said as she slapped Vincent's hand away from the bowl of small chocolate chips for what seemed like the hundredth time. "You can eat them when I'm done making the ghosts."

He started out as a great help. Once the chocolate came out however, he started sneak eating them behind her back. Then he didn't care if he got caught eating it or not.

"That's it! Out!" Rose ordered, pushing him towards the door of the kitchen. She wasn't going to let him take anymore of the eyes for the white chocolate ghosts she was making. "Go turn on the lights in the piano room."

"Alright, okay." He said with a smile before going and doing what she asked.

Finally. Maybe now she could get the rest of the sweets done with peace of mind that the ingredients would still be there when she went back to them.

After finishing the chocolate ghosts she put them aside so the chocolate could set up. She set aside some of the chocolate chips, Vincent had been snacking, on for him and put the rest of them into a pot on the stove to melt.

Once it was a creamy texture she brought the melted chocolate to the counter. She took the balls of cookies she had made earlier with a candied chocolate embedded in it. She then carefully started to paint the melted chocolate onto the cookies, making them look like eyes. Once those were done she also set those aside.

She heard the door to the kitchen creak a little. She smiled knowing who it was without turning around. She grabbed the bowl of chocolate chips she had set aside and held it out.

"Here, you chocolate fiend. I swear, if I had known you loved chocolate I would have gotten you some for your birthday instead of the cleaning kit for you gun."

She didn't turn to look at him until he took the bowl from her and gave her a kiss to the temple.

"It was a helpful gift, I needed it." He said as he started to eat the chocolate given to him. "You outdid yourself."

"We always outdid ourselves at Halloween." She said. "It was mom's and my favorite holiday."

Vincent turned his full attention to her when she didn't elaborate earlier. He set the bowl aside and pulled her into his arms after watching her brush away a tear.

"We'll make her happy in spirit and start some traditions for the kids we'll adopt, alright?" Vincent said.

Rose nodded against his chest. "I would like to make Halloween happy and special again."

Rose looked in the mirror as she finished her make up for the costume she was wearing. Once that was done she picked up the wig that had long black hair with light green streaks in it. Once she had that on she looked in the full length mirror to see if she needed to add any finishing touches to her costume.

The dress was black and sleeveless that had ruffles going all the way down to her knees. Her choker was also black. Her lips had black lipstick on it, but her eye shadow was the same light green that was in the wig that spanned out and also had a shimmer to it. Seeing nothing needed to be added or adjusted she carefully put on her long green wings that also had a sparkle to them. She had decided to go barefoot to keep the tradition of the fairy.

She quickly made her way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. She wanted to get everything out in the piano room before everybody showed up. Vincent was already in the kitchen, getting things ready to be set out.

"Party pooper." She said when she saw he had dressed up for the get together, but wasn't in costume.

Vincent glanced at her when she spoke to him, but ended up doing a double take. She looked absolutely stunning.

"To much?" she asked when he kept on staring at her.

"N-no." he answered. "Are you sure you want to go barefoot though?"

"It's the tradition of the fairies where I'm from." She said with a shrug. "I'm going to light the jack-o-lanterns. They'll be showing up any minute now."

With that she grabbed a couple of the party treats and headed out to the piano room.

'Our girl is looking good tonight.'

'She's absolutely beautiful.'

'Just try not to undress her with your eyes tonight Valentine. You wouldn't want to embarrass yourself in front of her or everybody else.'

'Why would I stoop that low?'

'Because you're a man.'

'Not all men are like that. You do realize that, right?'

'Doesn't mean you won't catch yourself doing it.'

Vincent didn't reply to that. Instead he grabbed what was left to put out and also headed to the piano room.

When everybody arrived Vincent lead them into the piano room where This is Halloween was playing.

"Welcome to Halloween Town." Rose said in the creepiest voice she could manage. "Sorry, that was lame."

"Oh my gosh Rose, you look so pretty!" Yuffie said, rushing to her, making sure not to trip on her cat tail she was wearing. "So, who are you?"

"Don't get mad Yuffie, the character I wanted to dress up as I didn't get a chance to make the costume for. I didn't have enough time." She said, then gestured to what she was wearing. "This is a creature from myth where I'm from. I'm a fairy and depending on where and who you hear the story from they say they're good, they're evil, they abduct people, they play pranks, etcetera. One thing people do agree on is they take a humanoid appearance that can either be human sized or very tiny."

"I see." Yuffie said. "Will you dress up as the character next year?"

"I plan on it Yuffie." Rose answered then turned to the rest of the group in the room. "We have chocolate, cookies, punch, bottles of water, soda and veggies and dip. We have plenty of everything so everybody please help yourselves."

The soundtrack of spooky music she had compiled continued for about an hour when Denzel asked Rose for a change of pace with the music. After hitting a few buttons on the stereo a moment of silence the music changed, Living La Vida Loca coming on.

"What the hell?" Cid said, his attention turning to the music as it changed.

"It's my music when I was growing up, Cid." Rose said. "Yay growing up in the nineties."

"Which song is this?" Denzel asked.

"Living La Vida Loca. La vida loca on my planet is Spanish that means the crazy life so the title translates to living the crazy life." Rose explained.

As the new music continued and Rose busy between Yuffie and the kids Vincent took the opportunity to pull Cid aside for a moment.

"You and Cloud were able to bring it, right?"

"Yeah. Cloud and I also looked it over and Cloud took it for a test drive before taking it. According to him it's a great motorcycle. She has a good eye." He answered, handing him the keys while Rose's back was turned to them.

"I'm going to wheel it to the garage while she's distracted. I'll be right back." Vincent said before slipping out the door.

He was gone for a good while. With the help of Cloud, Cid was able to keep Rose busy while Vincent was gone. They didn't have to keep it up for long when she went into the kitchen to restock on some of the snacks that had disappeared.

She was surprised to find Sephiroth in there, leaning against the counter and rubbing his temples.

"Is the music to loud in there?" she asked, getting his attention immediately. "I can always turn it down."

He shook his head. "No, it's fine." He said, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

She tilted her head a little as she looked at him and set the tray down on the table. "Are you alright Sephiroth? You really don't seem well."

"I'm fine, really." He answered, as he continued to rub his eyes.

"You're going to have to lie better than that." She replied.

He slowly lowered his hand and looked at her. "Is it really that obvious?"

She let out a low breath as she grabbed more vegetables from the fridge and set them next to the tray on the table. "You may be able to fool everybody else out there, but it'll take a little more to convince me." She looked back at him. "I've been lying a few years myself."

Sephiroth crossed his arms and didn't say anything. He turned his head slightly and broke eye contact with her.

Rose turned her attention back to the vegetables and began arranging them. "I can understand if you don't want to talk about it."

A small sigh escaped Sephiroth. "Aerith… She's been so excited about the baby since we found out… I can't help but worry."

"This is your first child. It's only natural to worry." Rose replied, glancing up at him.

He turned his gaze back onto her. "That's not exactly what I've been worried about."

"Hmm?" Rose stopped what she was doing again and put her attention back on Sephiroth.

"You know about the experiments that were done to create me, don't you?" he asked.

She nodded. "Mm-hm."

"That's what I'm worried about." He said.

"So, you're afraid that what happened to you will transfer over to the baby?" she asked, to clarify.

"In a way, yes." He answered. "It makes me wonder if it's such a good idea for us to have children."

That statement took Rose aback a little. "Sephiroth…"

"It makes me want to cancel this, to not have children."

"Sephiroth, no. Don't do that. Don't do something that you'll regret." Rose said.

"I nearly lost my mind at Nibelheim when I made the discovery and due to Jenova's influence." He said. "What if Jenova is able to influence any children I have?"

Rose was silent for a moment. "In all honesty Sephiroth, I don't think you have to worry about that."

"I don't understand how you can think that." He replied.

"Think about it this way. Aerith is an Ancient, a protector of the planet. If she didn't think having children with you would be a good idea, she would have done something to prevent it. I also think the Planet would also have done something to keep Jenova from influencing any of the humans born here." She explained. "I also think that Jenova cells wouldn't transfer over to your child very easily. They're cells, not genes and they're not an illness. I don't think they'll carry on to the next generation."

Sephiroth didn't look fully convinced, but it seemed some of his doubt had been eased.

"Don't make rash decisions." Rose pleaded with him. "Sometimes you have to wait and see what happens."

"What if we wait to see what happens and then it's too late to do something about it?" he asked.

"I don't know how to answer that. Hopefully it won't come to that." She answered. "Right now, that is an innocent beating heart in there. Don't stop the beating until you know what's going to happen."

Sephiroth closed his eyes, as he let out a small sigh.

"Come on. Everybody's probably wondering where we're at." Rose said, picking up the tray and heading towards the door.

"How is everybody doing on drinks?" she asked as she and Sephiroth came back into the room.

"Rose, stop being a hostess for a while. We're all fine." Yuffie said.

Marlene rushed up to Rose as she set the full tray down on the table.

"Rose, you still haven't played for me yet. Will you play?" she asked pointing towards the piano.

"….Oh…"

She had almost completely forgotten about that.

"That's right, you promised to play and sing for us." Yuffie said.

"Yes, I did." Rose said as butterflies started fluttering in her stomach. "Let me take these off first."

She carefully took the wings off and set them on one of the empty chairs in the room. She started to blow air into her cupped hands around her mouth and rubbing them together as she made her way towards the piano, trying to warm them up a little.

"Was there anything in particular that you wanted me to play?" she asked as she lifted up the cover, revealing the keys. She sat down at the bench and adjusted it so she would be more comfortable as she played.

"I don't know…." Yuffie replied. "How much music do you know from here since you've been here?"

"Not very much." Rose answered.

"Why don't you play something that you're familiar with?" Tifa suggested.

"Okay. Uhhh…." She thought for a moment. "It won't be as good as by the artist, but I could sing and play The Piano Man by Billy Joel."

"The Piano Man?" Yuffie asked.

Rose nodded. "That one is a bit different for Billy Joel. Usually his music holds no truth to it, but The Piano Man does."

"Does he play the piano?" Aerith asked as she sat down in one of the chairs.

"Yes. He is actually one of my idols that plays piano back on my planet. Another one of my idols is Beethoven. He went deaf early in life and he was still able to create beautiful pieces of music for both the piano and orchestra, but that's a story for another time." Rose said.

She turned her attention to the piano and after clenching and unclenching her fingers she played a few cadences to exercise her fingers and loosen them up.

The beginning of the song sounded like it was ragtag, but with a hint of jazz then it went back into being more ragtag.

When she finished she let out a small breath of air and her hands were shaking. With all the eyes on her in the room, she felt like she was at one of her piano recitals she had when she was younger. She shouldn't have been so nervous since she knew everyone there, but she couldn't help it. It was the first time for her to play or sing for anybody that wasn't Vincent since she had arrived there.

"Woooow." Marlene said.

"You have such a beautiful voice." Tifa said.

Rose blushed at that. "It's not that great."

"You have no idea how beautiful your voice is." Vincent said.

This caused Rose's blush to deepen and she looked down at the piano keys. The butterflies came back in full force. She didn't know or understand why that was. It wasn't the first time Vincent had complemented her but for some reason she felt like she was a teenager with her first boyfriend.

"One more song Rose, please?" Marlene said.

"Okay." She said, feeling the heat leaving her face. "Well, excluding Shera and me all of the adults have a theme I could play. Choose somebody and I'll play their theme."

"Play your favorite." Tifa said.

"That's the thing. I don't have one favorite." Rose said. "Tifa, I like your theme because it has a romantic feel to it. Aerith, I like your theme because it has a lullaby feel to it to me. Cloud, I like your theme because it makes me think of a hero who has a long journey ahead of them. Barret, I like your theme because it has the feel of we have a mission to do, let's go. Reeve, I like your and Cait Sith's theme because it's jazzy. Cid, I like your theme because it has the feeling of I just made a dream come true to so many. Yuffie, I like your theme because it suits you. It has energy to it. I like Red's theme because it has a native American feel to it. Vincent, I like your theme because it has a feeling of mystery to it. Sephiroth, I like your theme because it's powerful."

"Can you play Sephiroth's theme? I kind of want to hear that one." Denzel said.

"Okay, before I do, let me explain his is the only one that has lyrics to it in Latin." Rose said. "Estauns interius, ira vehementi, Sephiroth Sephiroth. That translates to burning inside with violent anger, Sephiroth Sephiroth. Sors immanis, et inanis. That translates to fate, monstrous and empty. Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias. That translates to come, come, o come, do not let me die. Gloriosa and generosa is at the end and they translate into glorious and noble." She sighed as she turned back to the piano. "First intro, then you'll know when the lyrics start, then musical interlude and then the finish." She said, seeming to be reminding herself of how the song went before placing her fingers to the keys and started playing.

As she played, she lost herself in the music. She forgot about the people that were watching and listening to her play. She didn't even notice Marlene move next to the piano to watch her fingers dance across the keys. She let the memories of playing the games and watching the movie play in her mind as she played. Nothing mattered but the music that flowed into the air.

When they actually started applauding, she felt her face heat up again. Why did she keep blushing like this?

She needed a break from the attention and give her face a chance to cool down. She made the small excuse to let Dixie out of her kennel and be put outside so she could stretch a little.

Rose had been out in the back for a good while, even though Dixie had been given enough time.

"Rose, you've been gone for a while. Are you alright?" Vincent asked as he stepped out onto the back deck. "Sephiroth, Aerith, Barret, Cloud, Tifa and the kids left. It was getting late for them. The others will be leaving soon."

"I'm sorry. I just, got a little lost in my thoughts." She answered.

'Sounds like somebody I know.'

Vincent ignored that and approached her. "Rose…"

"I've just been thinking about mom a lot. Especially recently, with the holidays coming up and my…"

Vincent wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled the top of her head. "I wish I could have met her. She sounds like a wonderful woman, but right now I think she would be angry with me and Cid."

"Why's that?" she asked, confusion in her voice.

Vincent removed one of his arms from around her waist and reached into his pocket. He then held out the keys so she could see them. "I'm giving you these. Cid picked up your motorcycle so you wouldn't have to wait for it to get here."

Rose looked at the keys in disbelief before turning to face Vincent. "He really did that?"

"Yeah. He said to call it an early birthday gift even though he doesn't know when it is." He answered. "He's still here so you can thank him before he leaves."

"I'll do that." She said with a smile and took the keys from Vincent. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"For loving me, for being you, for bringing me here..for everything." She answered.

They headed back inside to see the rest of their guests off. She thanked Cid before he left to take Shera and Cynthia back home along with Reeve, who would be going back to the WRO headquarters the next morning. He promised to tell Leanne hi for her when he saw her. Yuffie wished her an early happy birthday before leaving as well.

After they had left Rose took her wig off and let her hair down. She was glad to finally be rid of it. Her scalp was itching because of it and it was starting to make her sweat.

Without taking the time to take off her costume she started to put the perishables away in the fridge. She also put the sweets away to where Dixie couldn't reach them in the kitchen.

"Don't worry about the decorations and the mess in there right now. We'll clean that up tomorrow." Vincent said as he entered the kitchen with the rest of the food and with Dixie at his heels.

"Just let me stack up the dishes in the sink and I'll be right up." She replied.

"I'll get them. You go ahead." He said.

"Vincent I-"

"You did all the baking and the shopping. I can do this." He said. Before she could protest further he kissed her. "Now go. Let me take care of these."

"Fine, you win." She said with a smile. She leaned up and kissed him back. "See you in a bit."

She made her way up the stairs and to the bedroom. Once she got there she made her way into the bathroom and changed into her pajamas. After that she washed off the makeup she had on. She sighed in relief when she saw her face was a normal color in the mirror.

She returned to the bedroom and hung her costume in the closet. When she turned her attention to the bed, intending to lay down and read a little bit of the book she had started a few days before, she saw a box sitting on it. The box itself wasn't very big. She didn't know what it was so she sat down on the bed to wait for Vincent to ask him what it was.

Not too long after that, he did make his way up and to the bedroom.

"Uhhh, what is that?" she asked, pointing to the box that was sitting in front of her on the bed.

"It's a birthday gift from Tifa." He answered. "She brought it up here while you were busy in the piano room before she entered it. You can open it if you want."

She stood and made her way over to it. She untied the ribbon that was holding it closed and took off the top. There was something wrapped in tissue paper, but she couldn't see what it was. She took the envelope that was lying on top and opened it. There was a card inside.

Rose,

I know it's your birthday soon, and I'm sure you didn't want us getting you anything. I saw this in the store and thought of you and I had to get it for you. If it's not the right size, I'll be able to exchange it for you. I'm sure you'll need it soon.

Tifa

"I'll be needing it soon?" she muttered. She set the card and envelope aside and opened the tissue. She gasped when she pulled out the contents.

The dress itself was black. The torso was corset style, but it wasn't a corset with buttons going down it. Just by looking at it Rose knew it was going to push up the bust, which was white. There was white petticoats that could be seen peeking out from the bottom of the dress. The sleeves were short with black lace that was cut into points. The top of the bust was lightly frilled with a black band just under the frill. The dress was completed with a white hat with a black band, a black choker trimmed in black lace and black wrist bands.

"Why would she think that I would need this?" Rose asked confused. "It's beautiful and I love it, but…"

"My gift is why she said you would need it." Vincent answered.

"What?" she asked, taking her eyes off the dress and onto him.

"November sixth is your birthday. I'm taking you to the Gold Saucer for the day, and we'll enjoy enchantment night that night and we'll spend the night at the haunted hotel." He said. "I thought you would like to go again now things had calmed down."

"You really want to go?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" he said. "I would be spending time with you. It doesn't matter where we're at."

She set the dress down and hugged him. "Thank you Vincent."

_Again, my apologies to a long wait for this chapter. Writing for the next chapter has already begun, so hopefully there won't be a long wait this time. Things will be starting to pick up again for this story, so hopefully that will help keep my muses interested and we'll be able to continue this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though not much happened and hopefully the next chapter will be up in a few days instead of a few months._


	21. Birthday Love and Disappearance

_Here is the next chapter. If any of you out there didn't like the last chapter, I'm sorry. I thought it was a fun idea. Anyway here is the next chapter. __**Warning, please read: There is a lemon in this chapter. If you don't want to read it, that's fine. It will be in italics, so if you wish to skip it go ahead I won't be offended. If you read it and become scared for life, that's your fault. I gave you a warning.**__ Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 20 Birthday Love and Disappearance

"Okay. I've got clothes for tomorrow. I have my dress. I've got my toiletries, makeup… Am I missing anything?" Rose said as she recounted what she had packed for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"I'm sure you have everything." Vincent said from the doorway of the bedroom. He was slightly amused by the sight of Rose checking and rechecking what she had packed.

"I'm a female. It's my job to worry about stuff like this." She replied. She finally zipped her suitcase closed after making sure her dress wouldn't get wrinkled. "Did you drop Dixie off already?"

"Mm-hm."

"And you're all packed?"

"I've been packed." He answered. A chuckle was threatening to break free with the playful scowl she gave him. It finally did escape when she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Jerk." She muttered as she picked up her suitcase.

"I'll take that." He said reaching for it.

"I got it." She said, turning her back to him and holding it out of his reach.

He stepped around her and reached for it again. "Rose let me take it."

She turned again, attempting to keep it from him. "No!" she shouted playfully.

He put an arm around her waist, attempting to keep her still and reached for it again. "Rose, let me-"

"No! Mine!"

His hold tightened a little as he pulled her to him. "Rose!"

"Mine!"

The suitcase became the object of a tug of war game between the two until it finally was broken free from Rose's grip.

"Ha, ha!" Vincent said triumphantly as he held the suitcase out of Rose's outstretched arm.

"No fair, your arms are longer." She pouted.

"Come on, don't be that way." He said. He leaned down and kissed her when she looked up at him.

She gave a small sigh. "Okay, you win."

He smiled as he lowered his arm and gave her another kiss. As soon as he released her and turned the suitcase was ripped from his hand and Rose was running past him.

"Ha! I win!" she said as she ran down the stairs.

Vincent couldn't help but hurry after her. In the past couple of days, he found he had energy he didn't have before Rose came into his life.

"Wow." Rose said as she took in the size of the room.

It wasn't overly large, but it was still a good sized room with a large bed. She set her suitcase down and took out her dress. She took it to the bathroom to hang it up and ended up standing there gaping. It also was decently sized along with a Jacuzzi bathtub. She backed out of the bathroom, still holding her dress by its hanger.

"How much did you pay for this room?" she asked.

'_**Dun, dun, dun.**_'

"I didn't pay that much for it." He answered.

She gave him a disbelieving look.

'_**She saw right through that one.**_'

"Rose, it didn't break the bank. I wanted to do something nice for you." Vincent said.

"It didn't have to be this nice." She said. "Just running around on chocobos would have been fine."

"I wanted to do something nicer than that." He replied and approached her. "Let me spoil you at least once."

"Why? I didn't spoil you on your birthday." She said.

"The gift wasn't cheap though." He said.

She gave a small sigh and looked down.

"Hey." He said putting a hand under her chin, making her look up at him. "Just like with Halloween I want to make your birthday special for you again. Let me attempt that, okay?"

She nodded as a tear escaped. "Okay."

Vincent brushed it away with his thumb. "When you're ready we'll go out and have fun."

After hanging up her dress and unpacking a few things they were ready to leave. Instead of using the slides they used the stairs next to them. They spent most of their time in the arcade. Rose found out that there were quite a few games that Vincent was good at. She made a mental note to look for these games so they could play together when they were home.

"No, I told you I'm not good. I suck at them." Rose said when a hunting game with plastic guns were pointed out to her.

"It's not that difficult." Vincent said.

"Say's the expert." She replied.

"Just give it a try." He said. He put in a few tokens and handed her a gun.

She decided to humor him and took the gun. She lifted it and waited for the target to appear on the screen. When it did, she missed horribly.

"See?"

"Let me help you." He put his arms around her, unknowingly causing butterflies in her stomach, and helped her place her hands more correctly. "Now when you see the target, squeeze the trigger, don't pull it."

"What's the difference?" she honestly asked. She had heard that several times and never knew the meaning of it.

"When you pull the trigger, you jerk it back. You don't want to do that. Squeezing it, you keep the grasping pressure constant and use only your finger to press the trigger."

"Okay." She did as she was told, well tried anyway. She continued to miss the targets, only hitting the second to the last one. "I repeat, I suck at these games."

"You'll get better with time." He replied.

"Maybe." She said as she put the gun down. "Where do you want to go now?"

After having their fill of the arcade they looked around. They even made a stop to look around the owner's trophy room.

"We should probably head back to our room and get ready for dinner. We wouldn't want to miss our reservation." Vincent said then caught the look he was given. "It looks fancy, but it's not expensive I promise."

She could tell by the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice that he was telling the truth. "Okay, let's go."

The dress Tifa had given her fit her perfectly. The buttons, she found out, were in actuality a decoration. There was a zipper in the back which made it easier to get into.

The only makeup she applied was enough to bring out the color of her eyes and she applied a light colored rouge to her lips. She decided not to put her hair up but let it stay down. Once she was done with her makeup she put on her locket and choker then her low heeled shoes. She didn't bring her hat or the wrist bands, thinking they would be more in the way than anything. Once she was ready she headed out of the bathroom to grab the purse she had brought with her.

"Wow. You look stunning." Vincent said once she stepped out.

This caused a deep blush to creep onto her face. "It's not too much, is it?"

He shook his head. "No. The dress doesn't do you justice of how beautiful you are."

This caused her blush to deepen even more if it was possible. The butterflies she had felt in her stomach earlier also came back. "Thanks. You look very handsome." She replied, taking in what he was wearing.

The button up dress shirt was light red in color. The dress pants and overcoat were black along with the dress shoes he was wearing. He wasn't wearing a tie, but it seemed to her that it would have done less for him than good.

"What?" he asked when she continued to look at him and didn't say anything else.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you." She answered.

"I've been thinking that myself a lot lately." He replied as he approached her. He reached out and cherished her cheek for a moment.

The simple contact made the butterflies stir in her stomach again.

"You really know how to make me melt, don't you?" she said. She dropped her eyes to the floor shyly for a moment before lifting them back up to his again. "I'm ready to go when you are."

"Alright, let's go." He said with a smile. He offered her his hand and lead her out of the room start their date.

When they arrived at the restaurant, they were lead to a private table in the back. Rose was starting to disbelieve Vincent when he said it wasn't an expensive restaurant. It looked to nice. She was pleasantly surprised at the prices when they received the menus. The only thing that was anywhere near expensive was the wine list.

"Did you want to have any wine tonight?" Vincent asked when the waiter asked to get them something to drink.

"One glass, no more than that." She answered.

"Two glasses of the chocolate wine." He told the waiter. He said he would return with their drinks in a few minutes.

"Chocolate wine?" Rose asked.

"It tastes like chocolate, but it's not to rich or to bitter." He answered. Rose raised an eyebrow at that. "Trust me."

"Okay." She said with a small chuckle.

A few minutes later the waiter returned with their drinks then took their orders. Once he was gone Rose smelled the wine in her glass.

"It smells like chocolate." She brought the glass to her lips and took a sip. Her eyes widened at the taste. "It tastes like chocolate."

"See? It's good." He said.

"If I ever need to go wine shopping, you're coming with me." She said, earning a chuckle out of Vincent.

They spent their time at the restaurant talking a little about their lives, some of their dreams, the possibilities of their future together and about their friends from AVALANCHE.

"Nobody told me. How come Red didn't show up at the Halloween get together?" Rose asked as they finished their wine.

"There was something he wanted to check near Cosmo Canyon." Vincent answered.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. He needed to ease his mind about something it turns out the area was fine." He said. "He promises he'll be there the next time."

"Good. I missed him being there." Rose said.

"Everybody did." Vincent replied. He picked up the little black book that held the bill. "I'll take care of this, then we can go."

"Are you sure you don't want me to chip in for it?" she asked.

"I'm sure Rose." He answered. They stood from their table and after paying for the bill they left the restaurant.

"Where do you want to go to next?" Vincent asked.

"Ummm… A ride on the Gondola maybe…now that it's a more appropriate time." Rose said.

"Alright." They made their way over that way. Vincent stopped when he saw a photo booth. "Rose, do you want to get your picture taken?"

Rose smiled when she saw the booth. "Yeah, let's do that."

They entered it and sat down on the small bench. After putting in a couple of coins, the screen came to life. It took four pictures and you chose the one you liked and it printed for you. Vincent took Rose's hand and entwined their fingers together as their pictures were taken. After choosing their favorite together, they took the pictures that were given to them and they headed to the Gondola.

"Two of you?" the lady running the tickets asked.

"Yes ma'am." Rose answered.

"We have a cart ready." She said, pointing to an open cart. "Enjoy the sights."

"Thank you." Vincent said before he and Rose made their way over.

A moment after they entered it, the ride started. Rose looked on in awe through the window at the lights and sights of the place. She looked up at the fireworks that never seemed to end.

"Are you enjoying your birthday Rose?" Vincent asked, breaking the silence.

She turned her attention to him and smiled. "Yes, thanks to you."

"Good." He returned the smile as he took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles.

"I love you, so much Vincent." She said.

"I love you too, Rose."

She opened her mouth as if to say something, hesitated and closed it again turning her eyes to the floor.

"Is there something on your mind?" he asked, inviting her to speak.

"Can…" she hesitated again. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Can…can we try…making love?"

Vincent was a little shocked by that. He hadn't expected that. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." She nodded, turning her eyes back up to him. "I want to try making love to you… I think I'm ready."

"Alright… Did you want to head back to the room after the ride, or did you want to enjoy the sights a little more?"

"I want to head back after the ride." She answered, even though it was still early she wanted to have plenty of time with Vincent.

"Then that's what we'll do." He replied.

_Once they got back to the room, Rose went to one of the lamps and turned it on as Vincent locked the door to their room. She then went to the nightstand next to it and took off her locket and choker so they were out of the way. After they were off and safely on the nightstand, she turned back to Vincent as he approached her. _

"_At any time you feel like you're not ready, let me know and we'll stop." He said, gently placing his hands on her shoulders._

_She nodded as she placed her hands on his chest, lightly gripping his suit jacket and looked up at him._

_He leaned down and gently kissed her. He removed his hands from her shoulders and let them come to a rest on her waist. Rose returned the kiss, releasing his jacket and letting her hands slide up to his upper arms._

_Vincent let his tongue snake out and brush along her lower lip, asking for entrance. He wasn't pushy about it, wanting Rose to make the decision. She parted her lips and allowed his tongue to enter her mouth. He nudged her's along, and her tongue was soon dancing with his. _

_They soon parted, slightly panting, needing air and both of their faces a little flushed from their activities._

_Rose held his gaze for a moment before letting her eyes drop so she could unbutton his jacket, her hands shaking slightly._

"_Are you alright?" he asked._

"_Yeah, I'm just a little nervous." She answered._

"_We can stop whenever you feel uncomfortable, remember that." He said._

"_I know." She replied as she tugged the jacket down from his shoulders._

_He lowered his hands from her waist briefly so he could let the jacket fall, not caring it was going to be a wrinkled mess later._

_Rose pulled him down shortly after the jacket was shed and kissed him again. When Vincent went to slide his tongue across her lips again, he found them already parted for him. He let it slip inside and was dancing with hers again. _

_Rose kept her hands busy by letting them roam his chest and abs, able to feel the muscle definition more easily now that the jacket was gone. _

_She felt her body heating up as if it was on fire. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it was going to burst from her chest. She couldn't tell if the pounding was coming from nerves or excitement. Maybe it was both. She had to admit, she was a little scared. She wasn't sure if this was normal or not. She had to part from him again, needing to get air back into her lungs. _

_When Rose parted from him, Vincent leaned down and started kissing her neck. As his lips slowly made their way down, his hands ran up her sides from her waist then they made their way back down, coming to a rest at her hips._

_Rose let out a small gasp when Vincent hit a certain point on her neck. He noticed, stopping at there and started gently sucking at it. _

_A small moan escaped her. Rose never knew that such a simple act could feel so good. She let her hands roam from his chest to his upper arms and down. They came to a rest at his hands, and she was going to let them roam back up, but the feel of the glove on his left hand stopped her from doing that._

"_Vincent." She gently said, getting his attention._

_He stopped what he was doing and gazed down at her. "Are you getting uncomfortable?"_

_She shook her head and brought up his left hand and looked at it. She turned her gaze back up at him. "Please, take off the glove?"_

_He looked at his left hand, hesitating. He wasn't sure he wanted her to see._

"_Please?" she asked again. "I want to feel your skin on mine while we make love... Please?" _

_He hesitated again, before giving her a small nod. He removed his hand from hers and undid the button on the cuff of his shirt. He reached in and pulled down the edge of the glove and removed it. _

"_Vincent." She whispered._

_What she saw was a roadmap of scars, all over his palm and back of his hand. They continued up and disappeared underneath the sleeve. He saw the sadness in her eyes as she continued to look at the scars. She took his hand in hers again and she started rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb._

"_They don't hurt." He said._

"_But still…" she brought his hand up and started kissing it, as if they would get rid of the scars._

"_Rose."_

_She stopped and turned her attention back up at him. "I'm sorry."_

"_Don't be. It happened a long time ago." He replied._

"_Still, it doesn't-"_

_He cut her off by kissing her. "Let's focus on good things tonight, okay?"_

_She nodded and gave his hand a small squeeze. He responded by kissing her forehead. _

_He started to think about what to do next when he felt himself being tugged towards the bed._

"_We'll be a little more comfortable on the bed, right?" she said._

_He nodded and let her lead him. Before they could get there, he remembered something and stopped._

"_What's wrong?" _

"_I don't have any protection." He answered._

"_Oh." She said, realization coming over her. She had completely forgotten about that. "Maybe there's some in the room?"_

_He didn't have his hopes up, but he searched the drawers in the room's dresser and the bathroom, but he didn't find anything. He leaned in the bathroom doorway and thought for a minute. Both of their bodies were excited and getting ready. He didn't want to leave her hanging like that._

"_You said there was always protection used, right?"_

"_Yeah." She said with a small nod as she sat down on the bed. _

'_He most likely didn't give her anything… If he did, I'm sure Leanne would have found something.' He thought to himself. "We both know you can't get pregnant."_

_She looked over at him. Was he really considering doing this without a condom?_

"_I don't want to chance you getting anything in case he did give me something." She said._

"_I'm sure it would have been found out by now if he had." He replied. He made his way over and knelt down in front of her. "I'm willing to take that chance but if you want to stop, we'll stop."_

"_I don't know." She honestly answered. "I would feel better if you wore a condom, but…"_

"_I'm sure I'll be fine." He tried to assure her._

'_**Go for it Vincent. It'll be hard to get anything with the experiments you've had done to you.**__' Chaos said._

"_I don't want you taking that chance." She replied._

"_Chaos has assured me it'll be difficult to give me anything." He said._

_This caused Rose to blush brightly and she shyly averted her gaze from Vincent. She had also forgotten about Chaos._

"_Well… If he's sure…"_

"_He wouldn't be telling me this if he wasn't sure." He replied._

_She thought about it for a moment before turning her gaze back to Vincent. "Okay." She quietly answered._

_She took a shaky breath as she scooted herself back on the bed. Vincent gave a small smile at the shoes she had forgotten to kick off. He grabbed them and gently pulled them off and put them on the floor. He stood and kicked off his own before crawling on the bed after Rose._

_She settled back against the pillows and as Vincent covered her she started to tremble._

"_Try to relax." He gently told her. "We'll take this slow."_

_She nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Her trembling slowed and her body relaxed a little more._

_Vincent leaned down and gently kissed her. She responded immediately, kissing him back and wrapping her arms around him._

_Vincent then focused on the other side of her neck, slowly working his way down trying to find that one spot. He knew he found it when Rose gasped. He started kissing and sucking on that spot._

_Rose responded by gripping the back of his shirt. She moaned when Vincent sucked a little harder. Instinctively, she pulled up on his shirt, untucking it. Her hands wandered to the front and she started to unbutton the shirt._

_He shivered when he felt her warm hands on his skin. He stopped and let out a breath, tickling her skin, causing her to shiver. She leaned in and started kissing down his neck. Her hands wandered up and started tugging his shirt down from his shoulders. He backed off and took it the rest of the way off._

_After letting it fall to the floor he looked back down at her, watching her drink in his appearance. He reached down and cherished her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into it. He let his hand slide down from her cheek to her neck, coming to a rest at her shoulder. She opened her eyes and looked up at him when his hand stopped._

_He looked down at the dress then back up at her. "May I?"_

_She nodded. Before she could open her mouth to tell him about the zipper he started trying to undo the buttons._

_She reached up and stilled his hands. "The zipper's in the back." She said with a light chuckle._

"_That would make sense." He said, with a light chuckle of his own._

_He moved down on the bed a little, letting her sit up. He reached around, found the zipper and pulled it down. He tucked his fingers around the top of the dress and pulled it down. She shivered again as the air hit her exposed skin._

_Once her shoulders and arms were free she leaned back against the pillows and lifted her hips a little. "Go ahead and take it off."_

_Vincent hesitated a moment. "Are you sure?"_

"_Yeah." She nodded._

_He did as he was told and pulled the dress past her hips and down her legs. He was careful about laying the dress on the floor so it wouldn't be as wrinkled when they got to it in the morning. He turned his gaze back to her and he couldn't help but to sit there and look at her._

"_You're so gorgeous." He said._

"_Vincent." She breathed as he leaned down again._

_He kissed her again, his hand cherishing her cheek again. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and let her tongue run along his lower lip, this time asking for entrance into his mouth. He gladly parted his lips and their tongues began to dance together again. His hand wandered down from her cheek, coming to a rest at her breast, giving it a gentle squeeze. She gasped into his mouth._

"_I'm sorry." He immediately said._

"_Don't be. It was just a little unexpected." She replied. "Please, keep going."_

_He gave it another gentle squeeze and saw her nipple harden under the fabric. He ran his thumb over it, causing Rose to let out a breath. He sat back a little, freeing his other hand from holding his weight. He placed both his hands over her breasts and started to gently squeeze and massage them. Rose dug her head back into the pillows and arched her back, a moan escaping her. _

_He leaned back down and started kissing her again. He let one of his hands caress her stomach before making its way down between her legs and stroking. She let out a small cry and her hips bucked up against his hand. When had she become so sensitive?_

_She pushed that thought away. She wanted to see more of Vincent. She reached out and grabbed his belt, but stopped. She looked up at him, silently asking for permission. He gave her a small nod. Once she had his belt unbuckled, she undid the button then pulled down the zipper. She pushed down what she could of his pants, Vincent kicking them the rest of the way off._

_She instinctively reached out, wanting to touch him but stopped. He could see that she was unsure._

"_You can touch me." He assured her._

_Her hand was still reaching out, but she hesitated to move it any closer. He gently took a hold of her wrist and guided her hand to him. She let out a shaky breath, not really sure what to do. She moved her hand against his boxers, caressing him through the cloth. Vincent let out a low moan as she did this. She became a little bolder and gave him a gentle squeeze, receiving a grunt from him._

"_I'm sorry." She said, quickly pulling her hand away._

"_No. It felt good." He replied._

_She let out a short breath and smiled. She was doing something right. She reached down and started to caress and squeeze him again. He started thrusting himself more into her palm, enabling her to feel him growing hard._

"_Rose." He moaned._

_After a few moments she stopped what she was doing and placed her hands on his shoulders. She gently pushed him away from her and sat up. She reached back and unhooked her bra. She kissed him as she took it off. She grabbed his hands and placed them at her now bare breasts. He immediately squeezed them, causing her to moan into his mouth._

_While her tongue continued to dance with his, she moved her legs out from under him and let them settle on both sides of him. He didn't realize what she had done until she pulled him back down and his hips settled against hers, making him part against her._

_She started panting slightly, when she felt his erection against her. He decided to test the waters and gently grinded against her. She let out a shaky breath at first, but it settled into a moan. Her toes curled into the blankets below her as the pleasure built up._

"_Vincent, I think I'm ready." She panted._

"_Okay." He replied. He tucked his fingers into her panties and pulled them down when she lifted her hips. She moved her legs, helping him get rid of them. After letting them fall to the floor, he removed his boxers, releasing his erection._

_Her breath caught in her throat. She hadn't expected him to be quite that big. She was beginning to wonder if he would even fit. She couldn't take her eyes off of him._

"_We'll take it slow." He said as he covered her again._

"_Okay." She replied. She moved her legs a little further apart, preparing for him the best way she knew how._

"_Try to relax." He reminded her._

_She nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. She gasped when he pressed the tip to her. Instead of entering her right away, he rubbed it up and down against her a few times, preparing her a little further._

_He stopped at her entrance. "I'm going to enter you now, okay?"_

_She nodded and took another deep breath, relaxing herself as much as she could. She reached up and gently gripped Vincent's shoulders._

_He leaned down and kissed her as he passed the thresh hold of her body. She let out a small grunt, more out of surprise. So far so good._

_Vincent fought back the urge to bury himself deep inside her. He slid into her slowly, trying to let her body adjust to him as he entered her. It seemed to work at first. Rose's eyes squeezed shut, her grip on his shoulders tightened and her body began to tremble as she let out a moan of pain._

_He stopped immediately. "I'm sorry."_

_She opened her eyes to gaze up at him and he winced when he saw the pain in them. "You can't help it Vincent… You're huge."_

"_I'll try going a little slower." _

_She shook her head. "There's no helping it. Keep going at the same pace."_

_He knew she was right. He was bigger than what her body was used to and going slower was not going to make a difference. He kept going at the same pace, finding it difficult as her body wrapped around him almost painfully tight. It took most of his self control to keep going slow._

_Rose closed her eyes again and tried to stay relaxed as much as she could, knowing it would help. It was difficult though. She hadn't expected it to be this painful for her. When she felt their bodies connect, she slowly opened her eyes and gazed up at Vincent. _

"_Are you alright?"_

_She nodded. "I think so."_

_He leaned down and kissed her, trying to help her get her mind off the pain. He stayed still, allowing her body time to adjust to him. When he saw the pain on her face dissipate, he started to move. _

_He worked slowly, pulling almost completely out before pushing back into her. Rose gripped his shoulders tight again, feeling the pain come back. The second time he did this, the pain started leaving her body and was being replaced with pleasure. By the fifth time he did this, the pain was completely gone and her grip on his shoulders loosened._

_She dug her head back into the pillows, eyes closed as she started moaning. After she adjusted to him, Vincent kept the pace slow, allowing himself to explore her. With each thrust he searched for that one spot that would add on to her pleasure. She cried out a little at one particular spot. He pulled back and thrusted into her again, pushing himself into it. She cried out his name, her hips involuntarily bucking up into his._

_Now knowing where her sweet spot was, he picked up the pace a little, making sure to hit that spot with each thrust. The room quickly filled with the sounds of moans and the bed squeaking and groaning against the activities taking place on it._

"_Vincent…faster…please." Rose panted._

_He sped up, meeting her needs. Her moans grew louder but shortly started to dissipate. She gripped his shoulders tightly again. Her pleasure was building even more now. She wasn't sure about why that was._

_Vincent saw the uncertainty etched onto her face. He felt her body clenching around him, but she unintentionally holding back. _

"_It's natural Rose, let it go." He gently coaxed her._

_She relaxed herself, and the pleasure built up even more. She kept herself relaxed, trusting Vincent. The pleasure finally exploded within her and she cried out loudly as her first orgasm washed over her in waves._

_Vincent kept up the pace as best he could. It was difficult. Her hips were bucking up against him, allowing him to thrust into her deeper. Her body was clenching around him, hurtling him towards the edge. He held on, drawing out her orgasm. _

_The pleasure built up to much for him to hang on anymore. His orgasm hit him, causing him to thrust faster and harder. They cried out to each other as they reached the height of their climax. Rose cried out one last time, as she felt the heat pour into her as Vincent exploded. He slowed down his thrusts, easing them out of their orgasm._

_He pulled himself out before collapsing on the bed next to Rose. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, hugging her tightly. She let herself be held as their heartbeats slowed and pants returned to normal breathing._

"_That was wonderful Vincent." She said._

"_I didn't hurt you, did I?"_

_She shook her head against his chest. "No. That felt so wonderful."_

"_I'm glad." He replied. He nuzzled and kissed the top of her head. _

_After realizing that the light was still on and that they were still on top of the covers, they parted to remedy the situation. After the light was turned off and they were under the blankets, they wrapped their arms around each other and quickly fell asleep. _

It had been a couple of weeks since her birthday. It felt like the relationship between Rose and Vincent had grown. They had no problem displaying affection to each other in front of other people like they had before. They had started making plans for their future together, and they had been more intimate.

Also within those two weeks, Rose had taken lessons from Cloud on how to ride her motorcycle and was a pro at it in no time. Shortly afterwards, she had received her license and could drive it legally.

To make things even better, Reeve had given her, her own office to work in at the WRO. She was one of the employees listed in the development department, had her own office number and she could easily work on her designs in it.

Things were continually looking up.

She was looking over a few papers when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come on in." she called.

"Hi Rose." Yuffie said as she entered the office. She stopped for a moment to look around. "Wow. This is nice."

Rose looked up from documents. "I have Reeve to thank for that." She replied with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Tifa and I were going to take Aerith out on a girl's day. She needs some new clothes so we were going to take her out to do that and we were going to get something to eat afterwards. It wouldn't be a girl's day without you, so I came here to ask if you would like to come." She said.

Rose's smile widened. "I'd love to. Just tell me the date and time and I'll be there."

"That's great!"

Rose chuckled at that as her office phone rang.

"WRO development, this is Rose Laire. How can I help you?... Uh-huh…. Okay, I should be there in about forty minutes… See you there… Bye."

"Don't we sound professional." Yuffie teased as she hung up the phone.

"I kind of have to." Rose playfully retorted. "I have to go. Let me know the date and time and I'll be there."

"Sounds like a plan." Yuffie replied as they exited her office. "See ya!"

Rose waved after her and went in the opposite direction. She rounded a corner and nearly ran into Vincent.

"Holy!" she moved to dodge around him and nearly lost her balance in the process.

Vincent instinctively reached out and caught her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you. I thought you were still in your office."

"I was." She replied. She remembered why he was meeting with her. They had a date to go out for lunch before she came back here to finish with her work. "I got a call. Shinra's new building is almost done and I'm supposed to go out there and make sure that everything is up to code and standards to the blueprints."

"I see." He replied.

"I should be done in no more than an hour. If you want to go ahead and go, I'll meet you there." She said then took his hand. "Come on, we'll walk together."

He allowed her to lead him to the part of the building where their vehicles were parked. "This is the last thing you have to do for Shinra?"

"Yep, then I'll be free from him." She answered with a smile.

"Good." He replied, returning her smile. The rest of the walk was in relative silence. "Is the same place alright?" he asked as they approached her motorcycle.

"Yeah the same place is fine, I'll just be an hour late." She answered. She leaned up and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you." He replied, returning the kiss. "Be careful."

"I will, I promise." She said. She gave him a reassuring smile before turning to her bike and climbing on it. After making sure nobody was in the way she took off on it.

Dan was looking over things on the blueprints when he looked up to see Rose come in. "You're ten minutes early." He said, looking at his watch.

"Oh really?" she said, looking at the time on her phone. "I guess I gave myself to much time to get here." She joked.

He chuckled. "The guys are ready for the final inspection to be done so they can finish up."

"Let's get started." She replied.

They went through the last of the blueprints one last time, making sure everything was right up to that point and that everything afterwards would be right.

"Reeve gave you the rest of your materials, right?" Rose asked as they finished.

"Yes. We have everything we need, we just have to finish up." Dan answered.

"Alright, looks like my work here is done." Rose said with a smile.

"It is." Dan said, holding out his hand. "It was good working with you Rose."

Rose shook his hand. "It was good working with you. I hope we do it again soon."

Dan nodded then turned back to the building. "Alright, let's get to work!" he called out to the people working on the building.

Rose smiled as she walked over to her bike. She was going to drive over to the little café she and Vincent were going to meet up at. Once she reached the bike she decided to walk. It was getting around the time that it would be getting cold soon and the weather wasn't that bad yet. It was only across the square with the monument from Shinra and the square was only a couple of blocks away. She grabbed some money that she had in one of her side bags and started walking to the café

She stopped momentarily when she felt eyes on her. She looked around and only saw people going about their business around her and nobody was really standing around staring at her. She shook off the feeling and started walking again. She had just entered the square when she felt the eyes on her again, stronger this time.

"You're even more beautiful in person, Rose." A male voice said, right next to her ear.

She took in a quick breath and swung around with her fist. It didn't connect, but she did come face to face with a man. He was around five foot, nine. He had golden brown hair and piercing blue eyes. His clothes were loose, but were made for combat. He could move easily in them.

"I am Nicolai." He introduced then his nose wrinkled a bit. "You smell like that filth. We'll take care of that soon enough."

"Don't you dare call him that." Rose said through gritted teeth, her hands clenching into fists.

He chuckled at that. "Rose, he has some…enhancements but he's still a weak human. Fight alongside me as one of us and we'll show you what true power is."

"I'd rather die." She replied as she readied herself and took a defensive stance.

Nicolai chuckled in amusement. "You can try." He said, holding his arms out, telling her she could throw the first punch.

Vincent had stopped by Seventh Heaven on his way to the café. It wasn't too far of a walk and he would get there before Rose either way. He was making his way along the edge of the square when movement caught his eye. He stopped as he watched people hurried to get out of the way of two people fighting, one man and one woman. The man looked like he was dancing around, avoiding the attacks of the woman. When Vincent realized who the woman was he broke into a run towards them.

Nicolai continued to dodge her blows and dance around her. He was amused she continued to defend herself even though she couldn't hit him. That was when he smelled Vincent nearby and he was approaching fast.

"It's time." He said. He dodged her again. It was too quick for her to see, but he appeared behind her. He grabbed her hair, pulled her head back and to the side exposing her neck and sank his teeth in. He quickly pulled away as gunshots rang out. He ran into the crowd, knowing Vincent wouldn't try to shoot him with innocent people nearby.

Vincent didn't go after him. He had seen him go for Rose, but he didn't know if he was able to prevent anything from happening by shooting at him.

"Rose!"

She was in a daze. The area seemed to spin around her. She blinked, trying to stop the spinning effect, then suddenly someone was standing in front of her.

"Rose, are you alright?" Vincent asked as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

She looked up at him, seeing double. "Vin-"

Vincent caught her as she passed out. He knew he had to get her from the area and somewhere safe. He lifted her up and quickly made his way back to Seventh Heaven.

When Rose opened her eyes, she was on something soft and red light was pouring into the room from the window. It was either dusk or dawn. She didn't know which it was. Something that struck her as odd was how vibrant the color was. Then she heard voices. They sounded like they were just outside the room.

"She was bitten?" Cloud asked.

"Yes. I don't know if it took any effect or not. He didn't stay attached to her for very long." Vincent said. "Reeve is sending someone to come pick her up so Leanne can take a look at her."

Rose slowly sat up, remembering what had happened. If this was true…

"Where are Tifa and the kids?" Cloud asked.

"She took them to Aerith and Sephiroth's home for the time being." Vincent answered.

Rose stood from the bed and quickly grabbed her shoes and coat. She was bitten which meant she could turn into a vampire if she wasn't one already. She didn't want to take any chances of lashing out at anyone. She went to the window and looked out. It wasn't a long jump, she could make that.

She looked around the room and found a few sheets of paper and a couple of pencils on the desk. She walked over to it and quickly wrote something then took it to the bed. Afterwards, she went over to the window, opened it and jumped out. Being careful to avoid the windows she made her way back to where she had left her motorcycle and took off.

When the transportation came, Vincent went to the room Rose was sleeping in so he could take her to the vehicle. When he entered the room, he found it empty. Only a note was left on the bed and the window was open. He quickly walked over to the bed and picked up the paper.

I'm sorry, but I don't want to hurt anyone. I love you Vincent.

"No, no…" It all came together now.

He ran back down the stairs and headed for the door.

"Vincent?" Cloud said. He didn't have Rose with him. What was going on?

"She's gone." He said before exiting the building. He quickly looked around the surrounding area. Where could she have gone?

Rose was able to make it a few miles out of Edge. It was then that her body ached and her throat burned. She started seeing double again and she lost control of her bike. She wiped out, skidding a few feet from her bike. She saw a pair of feet approaching her before she lost consciousness again.

_I'm sorry for the cliff hanger, but it is necessary. It shouldn't take me to long to get the next chapter up. Things are getting interesting again, so hopefully that will keep my muses around. I hope you guys liked this chapter and hopefully I won't keep you hanging for to long._


	22. Humanity

_Here is the next chapter. I am so sorry for disappearing for so long. I was hoping that I would have had this chapter out a lot sooner. Some things have been changed with my plans for this story. With life itself and other things, it was a little difficult to even get the motivation to write. Some things will be explained in this chapter, so you guys will know what happened with Rose. Without further ado, here is the next chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 21 Humanity

It had been four months since Rose had disappeared. There had been frequent attacks everywhere since then. These attacks had kept AVALANCHE and the WRO busy. Vincent however looked for Rose, fighting against vampires who dared to attack him.

About a couple of months after she disappeared, people started to report to the WRO soldiers that they had seen a person help fight against the vampires that attacked. They never could give a full description due to the dark clothes and the shadows they seemed to stay in during the nightly attacks. Every report said that they were sure the person was a female due to how they moved. Reeve collected this information and passed it on to Vincent. It was more than enough information to tell him that this person was most definitely Rose.

For four months he had been looking for her. Every time he showed up at the town that had been attacked, he never found her, even though the reports repeated about the figure. She always seemed to slip away.

Reeve had given him a call saying there was an attack in Kalm and that she had been sighted. He was almost to the town. He wouldn't let her slip by him again.

Rose knelt on the roof of one of the buildings in Kalm. WRO soldiers were here to deal with the problem of the vampires. It wasn't a huge attack this time, but there were still a few of them wandering around. She knew they were there, and she was going to find them.

"He's here." She sighed as she listened in on a conversation between two soldiers.

"Don't you think that you should see him?"

Rose looked to her left and regarded her companion. Drake had been her only friend through her whole ordeal in the recent months.

"For now, it's best that I avoid him." She answered.

"Are you trying to convince me about that, or yourself?" he asked, looking at her.

She didn't answer. The area to the right was brought to her attention.

"You should talk to him."

The voice echoed in her mind. It wasn't spoken. Drake was already gone, to help get rid of the vampires on the other side of the town. She was left to deal with this side.

She brought up the hood and pulled it tight, hiding her golden locks. She jumped down from the building and started her hunt.

Rose went in the opposite direction of Drake. She knew she could trust him to take care of that side of town.

Gunshots rang out not far from her. If it had been four months earlier, she would have sworn they were shooting only a block away from her. She knew better, thanks to Drake and what he had taught her.

She heard more voices in her head. The others were planning on taking out a small group of the WRO soldiers that got separated from the platoon deployed there. She would get to them first. Stealth and the element of surprise was her greatest advantage.

She circled around, being sure to stick to the shadows. It wouldn't do any good to get shot at by the soldiers that she was going to help and to stay downwind from the other vampires.

She was able to get rid of two of the vampires before the last one knew something was going on. She mentally cursed when he picked up on her scent and started to take off.

"No you don't." she growled as she ran after him.

He only got to the end of the street to the intersection when she leapt onto his back, plunging her drawn knife deep into his back striking his heart.

She stood up and her attention was drawn to her left. She turned her head a little and her breath caught in her throat. Vincent stood there, gun drawn. He slowly lowered it.

"Rose."

She hated to do it, but she couldn't stay here and confront him yet. She quickly turned and ran back the way she came.

"Rose!" Vincent called as he ran after her.

She didn't stop. She continued down the street, making a hard left turn when she could. He followed her, to the left and down that street. When he followed her to the right she was gone. He searched for any trace that she may have left behind, but she was gone.

'Something's not right here. She was bitten, and we know it but…she doesn't smell like a vampire. At least, not completely. I should be able to track her down, but her scent is different from a vampire's. It's not as strong so I don't think I'll be able to pick it back up again.'

'We'll discuss that later.'

Vincent did his best to find her, but he had no luck. The vampires were now gone and so was Rose. She had managed to slip away from him again. He sighed as he mentally admitted defeat and started to make his way back out of town.

"Any luck Vincent?"

Vincent stopped and regarded the robotic cat. "I saw her, but she ran off. I couldn't catch her."

"A couple of soldiers reported the sound of a motorcycle not too long ago." Cait Sith said. "We could try to catch up to her."

"She's a speed demon on that thing. There would be no point in chasing her down."

The two whipped around, Vincent drawing his gun on the man before them. He was medium in build with sandy blonde hair.

Drake raised his hands in submission. "Vincent Valentine, I mean you no harm."

"How do you know Rose?" Vincent asked.

"I've been helping her the last four months. I can assure you, she's been doing fine."

"Who are you?" Cait Sith asked.

"The name's Drake. I am in no way associated with Nicolai." He answered. "I've been helping Rose fight his clan and in doing so I helped you."

Even though he sensed that this man wasn't dangerous, Vincent didn't lower his gun.

"I was hoping she would have talked to you, but…" Drake gave a small sigh. "Go to the ruins of Midgar, the old church in the slums. You'll be able to find Rose there."

With that, Drake slowly backed away before turning around and leaving.

"Do you think it was wise letting him go like that?" Cait Sith asked.

"Only one way to find out." Vincent replied before turning and walking off. If what Drake said was true and Rose was in that church, then he could be trusted.

Rose sighed at the scent of the flowers. Ever since she came to the church the first time, she felt a form of peace since she had been bitten. It was the only place where she could find true respite. She crouched down at the edge of the flower bed and looked them over. Even though they really hadn't been cared for, they looked really beautiful.

Suddenly the sound of footfalls was heard approaching her. She could tell that it wasn't Drake. She turned to face the door, her double bladed katana drawn and a throwing star at the ready. She let out a short breath when she saw Vincent come through the door.

"Rose."

She let out a small sigh as her arms fell to her sides and her eyes averted from him. "Drake told you where to find me, didn't he?"

"Why did you run from me?" Vincent asked as he approached her.

She sheathed her katana and put her throwing star away, as if she needed an excuse to think before answering him. "Because, it would have been too hard to talk to you."

He stopped a couple feet from her.

"I hoped that this would have been resolved before we met up again." She said, finally turning her eyes back to him.

"Everybody's been worried about you."

"I knew they would." She replied. "I didn't want to hurt anybody and I couldn't come back until I knew I had control."

"The bite took effect." He said.

"Not completely." She replied. "I did get some qualities, but I'm not a full vampire."

Vincent was confused. If she was bitten, shouldn't it have changed her completely?

"Drake will be able to explain it better than me." She said, seeing the confusion on his face.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the look on Rose's face stopped him. "What's wrong?"

"They're going to attack the WRO." She answered. "Let's go."

"How do you know they're going to attack the WRO?" Vincent asked as he followed her out.

"Vampires are able to communicate with each other through thoughts. If they are within a mile radius, I can hear them. Drake is within a mile and he just informed me." She explained as they approached her bike.

She climbed on and started the bike and looked at Vincent expectantly. He climbed on behind her and they took off towards the headquarters.

The ride didn't last long. Rose definitely knew the area well enough to get them there through the shortest route possible, even if it was a bit dangerous to go through on a bike. She stopped her motorcycle a ways from the headquarters, and wasn't surprised when Drake appeared beside them as they approached the place.

"You do know this is the perfect way to trap you." Drake said.

"I know, but I can't ignore this." She replied.

"If you do face off with him, end it as soon as possible. The longer the battle draws out, the more likely he'll fully turn you." He warned.

"I know." She said. "Drake, you stay with Vincent. Once they know who I am, they won't attack me. If you're seen with Vincent, you'll be seen as trusted."

Vincent hesitated. He didn't want to leave her alone with the possibility of being attacked by one of the soldiers, but once it was known she was the one helping them the past four months then she would be fine.

"Alright." He agreed.

"We'll take this end. You take the other side Rose." Drake said as they approached the entrance.

"Can do." She replied before taking off towards the other end of the WRO.

Drake turned to Vincent. "I'll let you take the lead. You know this place better than I do."

He nodded before leading towards the first area.

Rose quickly made her way towards the other end of the WRO. She killed the few vampires she ran into on her way through, which was odd to her. Usually the attacks had more vampires than this. Nicolai had to be up to something. She broke into a run, heading to Reeve's office.

"Come now. I know you know where she's at."

"I told you. We don't know where she's been."

"I can tell you're lying."

"We have been looking for her, but we haven't been able to actually find her."

"Mr. Tuesti, how much do you value your life and the life of your frie-"

Reeve's eyes widened as he saw blades emerge from the chest of the vampire that was interrogating him. He watched him slump to the floor before raising his eyes to his savior.

"Rose!"

"The longer you let the confrontation last the least likely you'll survive." She said, then turned towards the door. "Come on. You're not safe here."

"This attack started not long ago. How did you find out about it?" Reeve asked as he followed her out.

"I'll explain later."

"Where have you been?" Reeve asked.

Rose turned and shot a glare at him. "What did I just say? Let's go." She growled.

He nodded obediently and followed her out of his office.

"Stay close." She ordered, pulling up her hood again.

Reeve did as he was told and followed close behind her. She kept a look out not only ahead of them, but behind them as well. When they came up to any corners she would keep him behind the wall while she peeked around them. He became momentarily alarmed when she quickly reached around the corner and heard flesh being sliced through. He didn't relax when she placed a dead vampire on the floor beside the wall so it was out of sight.

"Let's get moving before they follow the smell." She said, putting her blade away.

Reeve stepped over the body and followed her. He wasn't so sure what to think of this. This was Rose, but at the same time it wasn't. It was like she became a ruthless killer because of the new blood that was in her. He wasn't sure how to explain it, but it seemed that she wasn't like she was before she disappeared.

"We need to get farther from your office. They're starting to wonder what happened to the one they sent in." she said as she led him down another hallway.

"How do-"

"Later." She cut him off before he could fully ask his question.

She lead him down a few more hallways, the sounds of the fight seemed to be dying down. They were no longer running into vampires. Rose didn't know if that was exactly a good sign or not. She hadn't heard any orders for a retreat but that didn't mean anything.

Then Rose heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching them. She turned and was able to flip out of the way in the nick of time.

"Are you alright Reeve?" Shelke asked as she held her sabers at the ready.

"Yes. If it wasn't for Rose I would probably be dead by now." He answered.

"Rose?" she said, then took a better look at her. "Rose."

"It's good to see you Shelke." She replied.

"I'm glad that you're all right." Shelke said.

"Shelke, watch out!"

Rose grabbed her double bladed katana and was able to send the shuriken skidding across the floor.

Yuffie stopped several feet back and readied her materia.

"Yuffie stop! It's Rose!" Reeve shouted at her.

It was to late. Yuffie couldn't stop the bolt of lightning from shooting from her materia. Shelke quickly ran in front of Rose, activating her shield materia in time to block the bolt.

"Rose, I am so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it." She replied. A look of horror came over her face and she quickly turned to Reeve. "Where are Aerith and the kids?!"

"Uh…I'm not sure. They're here somewhere." He answered.

"They're in big trouble." She said and took off down a hall. "Take care of him!"

"But Rose!" Yuffie called after her, but she was already gone.

Rose hurried down the series of hallways, following a scent that led her towards the storeroom of the WRO. Nicolai had Aerith, Marlene and Denzel trapped there and in her condition there was no way she would be able to fight.

When she got there, there were several WRO soldiers guarding the door while Shalua was trying to get it open. They raised their weapons as she approached them.

"Freeze!"

She stopped immediately. She opened her mouth to say something but a voice behind her beat her to it.

"Don't shoot her! She's an ally!" Yuffie yelled.

Rose turned to her. "You were supposed-" She stopped when she also saw Reeve and Shelke with her. "Do you have a death wish? It's not safe for you here."

"It doesn't matter at this point. There's no safe place right now." He replied.

"There's not as many of them, but there are still a few around." Drake said as he approached the group with Vincent. "We have a bigger problem right now."

"I'll say we do." Shalua said. "There's no power to this door. I won't be able to open it from here."

"He must have sabotaged the wires on the other side." Rose said as she looked up at the venting system above the door.

"Rose."

She turned and looked at Drake. He pointed up to the grate that could be opened up above him and took a stance that told her he would give her a boost up.

"Don't die on me." He said as he threw her up to the vent.

"Get me up there too! I'm not letting her go in there alone." Yuffie said as Rose disappeared into the vent.

"No. This is her fight." Drake replied. "For now let's focus on getting that door open."

Rose crawled through the vent as quickly as she could. Luckily, she didn't have to go very far when she reached the other grate. She knew it would be pointless to be stealthy at this stage. She knew that Nicolai had heard everything from the other side of the door and he would be expecting her. Using her elbow she was able to break the grate free from its frame and she jumped down to the floor below.

"I've been waiting for you. I'm surprised it took you this long to find me." Nicolai taunted.

Rose didn't reply and moved into the space separating him from Aerith, Denzel and Marlene. She drew her double bladed katana and took a defensive stance.

"I have to wonder though. How did you know where we were attacking and when?" He said. "I can't blame Drake. He wasn't always with you and he couldn't have told you every single time."

Rose kept her guard up. She knew better than to let it down with Nicolai and let him have his attack.

"I'll find out soon enough." He continued, glancing at Aerith and the two kids.

Rose raised her katana and moved into his line of vision.

"Still have connections to those that are weak."

"Save the speech. I don't want to hear it." Rose said, cutting him off.

"I don't understand why you wouldn't want to accept this. You get so much power from something so simple." He said.

"I would rather have died than to have had this." She growled.

"You have no idea how much of a gift this truly is." He said, turning his gaze at the trio huddled against a wall. "So much power. You can control humans, make them bend to your will when you make them believe you won't drain them of their blood."

"Shut up." Rose warned.

"Imagine what you could do with that power. You could take over the world with it."

"I said shut up!" she yelled as she lunged at him.

He flipped back, dodging her attack.

He shook his head, pitying her. "So close, just a little too slow."

He lunged at her as he drew his own blade. Rose was barely able to block it with her own.

"I have to give you some credit though." He growled. "You do have some strength."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She swiftly brought her up her knee into his stomach, freeing herself from his blade. She went for a punch, but he was able roll out of her way.

"I told you, you're too slow." He said as he lunged at her again.

"There's no fixing it from this side." Shalua said as she turned from the panel on the side of the door. "I need to be on the other side."

"What are we supposed to do?" Yuffie asked as the sounds of metal clanging could be heard. "We can't leave her alone over there."

"We need something to wedge the door open." Drake said.

"I know what we can use." Shelke said before taking off.

"Be careful!" Shalua called after her.

'We need to get in there. There's the smell of fresh blood and I know it's not his.'

'How bad is it?'

'It's getting worse.'

"I hope she'll be okay." Yuffie said as she began to anxiously pace in front of the door.

"She's a tough one." Drake said. "I'm sure she'll be able to defend herself and them until we can get this door open."

"Just look at yourself." Nicolai sneered. "You're breathing heavily, you're fatigued and you're losing blood. Pathetic."

Rose was breathing hard and holding a gaping wound on her side as she glared at him. Because she was losing blood, the thirst was becoming almost unbearable, but she wouldn't let herself give in. She refused to become one of them.

"You know, if you would let me turn you completely, you wouldn't be suffering like this." He said.

"Piss off." She growled as she lunged at him.

"Still won't listen to reason." Nicolai sighed. He grabbed the hook that was hanging by a chain and threw it at Rose, lodging it into her left shoulder.

Rose cried out in pain as the hook pierced completely through. She cried out again as she was raised enough so she was dangling above the floor. She released her double bladed katana and grabbed the chain above the hook, trying to take her weight off it.

"Pathetic." Nicolai repeated as he came into Rose's view. He walked as she turned from hanging, so he was always in her view. "If you were like me, you would be able to pull yourself off there."

"Go fu-"

Nicolai cut her off as he slapped her. He grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, exposing her neck to him. "You don't understand the predicament you find yourself in girl. You're in no position to be insulting me."

He leaned into her exposed neck, teeth bared but suddenly turned to the sound of the door creaking open.

Rose took the opportunity of his distraction and let the hidden blade in her sleeve to slide from its sheath. As he turned back to face her she forced the blade into his chest, and into his heart.

Surprise and pain came over his face as he looked at Rose. His face soon took the look of shock of what she had done.

"I would rather keep my humanity than become a monster like you." She growled at him. She released the knife as he fell back onto the floor.

"Rose?" Marlene said, obviously shaken.

"Please, stay where you are. It's safer for you." Rose said.

"Rose, you need help." Aerith said, taking a step forward.

"Aerith, please. For your own safety, don't come near me." Rose pleaded.

The doors creaked again as they were forced open. Yuffie gasped as she took in what she saw.

Before anyone could move Rose gripped the chain with her good arm and started to hoist herself up, trying to free her shoulder from the hook. The blood covering her hand didn't help her grip, causing her hand to slip and she fell back down onto the hook causing her to cry out.

"Rose don't." Drake warned as he hurried to the machine that operated the hook. "We'll get you down."

When other people started approaching her she started to panic.

"Stop! Don't…don't come close."

Vincent held out a hand, signaling the others to stay where they were before he started approaching Rose.

"Vincent please, stay back." She pleaded, trying to pull some of her weight off of the hook.

"Someone take over this." Drake said as he stepped away from the controls and hurried over to Rose.

Reeve ran over and took over the controls and as gently as he could, coaxed the hook down, allowing Rose to stand. That only lasted a moment before Rose's legs gave out from under her. Vincent hurried to catch her and helped Drake keep her up since the hook couldn't go any lower without being detached completely.

"It's burning." She muttered.

"Hold on." Drake said as he reached for the canteen at her waist.

"It's gone." She muttered. "All of it."

"You don't need it. You can get through this." He encouraged.

She let out a small cry of pain as she moved her hand to her shoulder.

"I'm getting Leanne." Yuffie said as she ran out of there.

"Yuffie, don't go alone!" Aerith called after her.

"They're retreating." Rose said, trying to get her mind off the pain. "They know he's dead. They're lost without him, without his orders. They're leaving."

She started trembling and her breathing became heavier.

Drake turned to everybody else in the room. "Alright, everyone that is human get out. You're making things worse for her right now, trust me. Please leave."

"Do as he says, let's go." Reeve said then turned to the three. "When Leanne gets here, we'll send her in."

"Leanne?" Drake questioned.

"She's a doctor. She'll be able to get this hook out of Rose's shoulder more safely than we could." Vincent explained as Reeve left.

He nodded. "Alright. Be prepared to restrain her if it comes down to it."

Vincent nodded his head in understanding then turned his attention to Rose as her trembling got worse. Thankfully they didn't have to wait long for Leanne to show up.

"Oh god Rose." Leanne muttered as she looked at the damage dealt to her.

"Get this out of me." She muttered as she winced at the pain.

"We'll do that." She said. She produced a vial of liquid and a needle. Once the needle was full and making sure there were no air bubbles in it she turned to Rose. "This is going to numb your shoulder so you won't have any pain when we pull that out."

She nodded as she winced again. She didn't feel the needle puncture since she was in so much pain already from the hook. It took some doing, but Leanne and Drake managed to get the hook out without causing more damage.

Once she was released Rose collapsed against Vincent and passed out almost immediately.

"I'm going to get a transfusion ready for her." Leanne said as she glanced at the blood on the floor before bandaging Rose's wounded shoulder and side.

"Make sure it's animal blood and not human. If human blood is given to her then things could get worse rather than better for her." Drake said.

Leanne nodded then turned to Vincent. "Bring her to the medical wing. I'll get the transfusion ready."

Vincent gathered Rose in his arms before following Leanne.

A WRO soldier approached Reeve immediately after Rose was carried off. "Sir, the vampires have withdrawn. Do you want us to go after them?"

"No. Those who are capable, help the wounded." He said, then turned to Drake.

"Let's take care of those that have been wounded first, then we'll talk." He said before Reeve could say anything.

"There is quite a bit of blood. Are you sure you'll be alright around all that?" Yuffie asked.

"I've been able to keep myself from drinking human blood for over two hundred years. I think I'll be fine." He assured her.

After making sure the wounded had been helped and the ones with the worst wounds were taken to the medical wing they went into Reeve's office and met up with Sephiroth and Cloud.

"What happened with Rose? Is she a vampire or not?" Yuffie asked.

"A simple question, but difficult to answer." Drake said. "She isn't a full vampire. She's half vampire and half human."

"How can somebody be a half vampire?" Sephiroth questioned.

"We're not entirely sure ourselves how it happens. I think for you to fully understand I'll explain how we turn our victims into vampires." He said.

He took a deep breath before speaking again. "In the saliva of a vampire is venom that is activated when a victim is bitten. Just kissing or spitting won't do anything to you to turn you into a vampire. When Nicolai bit Rose, the venom was activated but it didn't do the job fully. Even when the venom is activated a bite can still not fully turn you into a vampire, if at all. Usually what happens is that the full change happens when blood is drank. If you think about it as in terms of a straw when you drink from a glass, the fluid from the drink leaves your mouth and goes back through the straw and into the glass. Turning a victim into a vampire is the same process. The saliva is able to intermingle with the blood in the mouth of a vampire and it then leaves the mouth and goes back into the victim. The venom then circulates and turns the person into a vampire."

"Then how do you explain Rose being a half vampire?" Yuffie asked impatiently.

"As I said we don't fully know how it happens. The bite alone didn't do the full job. We don't know whether the venom doesn't fully circulate through the body or not but even that doesn't make sense. It could have something to do with the heart but we don't know." He said, trying to explain. "Vampires no longer have a heart beat when we're turned, but Rose still has a heart beat because she is still half human. With that heart beat she still has to be human such as eating, drinking, sleeping etc. To help keep herself under control she's been drinking animal blood."

"In four short months she was able to learn to keep in control?" Sephiroth asked. "You really expect us to believe that?"

"She's alive, isn't she?" Drake said. "I've trained many vampires in my time to learn to control themselves better around humans and to live off of animals. She was the quickest one to catch on and since she never tasted human blood, she was able to control herself better with animal blood…. She kept her humanity more than you realize. Most of her motivation came from all of you."

Reeve crossed his arms and looked down at the floor as he digested this information. "You said you were helping Rose fight against Nicolai and his clan." He said, turning to Drake. "Why?"

"Because of what Drake was planning." He answered. "He planned to kill everything and turn anything he could into a vampire. We don't return to the lifestream until we die and that day may never come. If he turned what he could into a vampire then the Planet would die because she wouldn't have a lifestream to sustain her. He would have killed the Planet and everything in it if he continued on this path. I wasn't about to sit back and allow him to do that."

_A/N: Again, I apologize for my long hiatus. There is not much left on this story, some things have changed from my original plans, but hopefully it'll turn out well. No more than three more chapters and this story will be done. There is an after story that I have started working on that is for Vincent and Rose. It's something that couldn't have been put into this story not matter how hard I tried to fit it in, it wasn't going to work for this story. Hopefully I'll have the next one up soon._


	23. Reunited

_Yay for quick updates. This chapter was a bit of a filler, but it does have information that was needed for the story to continue. The next chapter should be the last and then the epilogue. I know how I want this story to end, so hopefully the last chapter and epilogue will be up soon and then I will be able to start posting the after story. Enough jabbering from me, enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 22 Reunited

Rose woke up with a jolt. She heard a machine beeping and she felt oddly refreshed. She looked up to her left to see a bag of blood almost empty.

This caused her to sit bolt upright. Gentle hands grabbed her shoulders.

"It's animal's blood. You're okay." Vincent told her.

"Hey, welcome back to the living world." Leanne said as she came up to her bedside. "How do you feel?"

"Surprisingly refreshed." Rose answered. "How long have I been out?"

"Almost…two days." Leanne said.

"Shocking." Rose muttered as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Unhook me please."

"Are you sure?" Leanne asked. "Shouldn't you rest a little more?"

"I'm fine now, thanks." She answered.

Leanne did as what was asked of her and unhooked Rose from the heart monitor machine and took the needle of the I.V. out of her arm.

After letting Leanne look her over, Rose stood and took a quick look around the room.

"Where are my things?"

"Drake has them." Vincent answered as Leanne left the room to tend to other patients.

"Where's Drake?"

"In Reeve's office, last I heard." He answered.

"….I'm sorry."

"Hmmm?"

"About leaving." She said. "I just couldn't be here until I-"

Vincent pulled her into a hug.

"You're safe and you're back with us. That's all that matters."

Rose had tensed when he pulled her to him. She slowly relaxed and wrapped her arms around him.

"I missed you so much." She said.

"I missed you." He replied.

"I won't leave you again Vincent, I promise." She said. "I'm sorry for hurting you."

"I understand why you left Rose." He replied. "Don't be sorry."

He held her for a while longer before he parted from her. "Let's go get your things."

She nodded before they left the room hand in hand.

They made their way to Reeve's office, Rose getting greetings from various soldiers and members of the WRO. When they reached the door to the office she reached for the button that would open the door but stopped when she heard voices talking.

"So Shinra's accusing us of taking it." Shalua said.

"They're not accusing us of anything." Reeve replied.

"That's what they say now." Shalua replied. "Give them time and they'll start accusing people left and right of taking it until they get it back."

Rose turned to Vincent. "Shinra had something taken from them?"

"It's the first time I heard anything about it." He answered.

Rose finally pushed the button and opened the door to Reeve's office.

Reeve and Shalua both looked at her, surprise was evident on their faces.

"Rose. How are you feeling?" Shalua asked.

"I'm alright, thank you." She answered.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Reeve asked. "That was a nasty wound in your shoulder and side."

"I'm fine. Thanks to the transfusion Leanne gave me I healed quicker than I would have without it." She said and paused as she looked about the room. "My stuff?"

"Right." Reeve said as he pulled her coat and things out of a nearby locker. He walked across the room and handed her the things.

She thanked him before she started working the straps for her knives and blades onto her arms and belt around her waist.

When she was finished she looked at the three watching her. "Entertained?" she asked.

"A little." Shalua chuckled.

"Blades are more quiet than guns are and the more I have the more prepared I feel. If I lose any of them then I know I have plenty of backups." She explained. "Besides, bullets can't be retrieved."

"We spoke to Drake earlier." Reeve said, grabbing her attention. "He explained everything. About you being a half vampire, how you are still half human and about your ability to hear thoughts of vampires."

"I see." She replied as she pulled on her coat. "Speaking of Drake, where is he?"

"He left a little while ago." Shalua said. "Something about hunting."

"He's probably refilling my canteen for me." She said. "….So, what is going on with Shinra?"

Reeve heaved a sigh. "They have what is left of Jenova for research. Some of it was stolen and they're trying to figure out who stole it."

"For research?" Rose asked, doubt evident in her voice.

"Yes, specifically for research." Reeve replied.

"If they used Jenova for anything else, they'll have people after them." Shalua said.

"They don't want to tangle with us is what she's trying to say." A voice said behind her.

She turned and came face to face with Sephiroth who handed her, her double bladed katana.

"Oh, thanks." She said as she took it and sheathed it. "I was starting to wonder where that went."

"It's a good choice for you." He replied before turning to leave.

"How's Aerith?" she asked before he could get to the door.

He stopped and looked at her. "She's fine, thanks to you."

"Good." Rose said with a small smile. "And how's the baby?"

"So far he's healthy and normal from what we can tell." He answered.

Her smile widened. "Glad you waited?"

He couldn't help but smile a little. "Yeah."

"I'm really happy for you two." Rose said.

"We all are." Shalua added before turning her attention to the monitors in the room. "Looks like Drake's back." Her voice trailed off as she saw another person with him. A female with long black hair.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked as she moved to get a better look at the monitors. "I wonder…"

"Who is she?" Reeve asked as he looked between the monitors and Rose.

It was a moment before she spoke. "Let them both in. She's an ally and wants to talk."

"Did Drake tell you?" Reeve asked, looking at the screen.

"Yeah…though this will be the first time I'll be meeting her." Rose answered. "Are we going to meet with them here, or somewhere else?"

"Here will be fine." Reeve answered.

"Alright. Open the door and I'll go meet them." Rose said as she made her way towards the door.

Vincent turned and followed her out. "So, who is she?"

"Grace." She answered. "…Did you talk to Drake at all about me while I was out?"

"Yes, we talked when he retrieved your canteen." He answered.

"Okay, well Grace… She was turned into a vampire by somebody who is like me."

Vincent stopped dead in his tracks, causing Rose to also stop and look at him.

"How is it possible for a half vampire to create a vampire?" he asked.

"It's not fully known." Rose answered. "It's an extremely difficult process that can take several attempts to succeed…. Our venom isn't really effective. If we were to turn someone into a vampire we would use a mixing of each other's blood. Kind of like a transfusion, but even that can fail."

"….." Vincent seemed to be deep in thought as he took in the information.

"Richard was the only other half vampire that Drake had ever known about and helped. He met Grace and wanting to be together, she willingly went through the process. It took several attempts, but Richard was able to do it." Rose said.

"And why isn't Richard here with her?" Vincent asked as they started walking again.

"…He was killed by humans who feared him, even though he gave them no reason to be afraid of him." She answered then sighed. "I would suggest not bringing up Richard unless she is the one doing so."

The last statement seemed to not only be aimed at Vincent, but to the others who would have listened in on their conversation through the monitors.

The rest of the walk through the hallways was silent. Once they reached the door it was opened and they were greeted by Drake and Grace.

"Rose." Grace greeted and held out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Drake's told me a lot about you."

"And he's also told me about you." She said, shaking Grace's hand. "Reeve wanted to meet you in his office."

"You were sent to escort us." Grace said.

"Call it a friendly escort." Rose replied. "I wanted to meet you."

"I see." Grace said then turned her attention to Vincent. "Vincent Valentine… I never thought I would see the day where I would be fighting alongside you and AVALANCHE."

"I think we could say the same." He replied.

"Yes. It is amazing how the actions of one clan can bring us together." She said.

"We'll discuss that further in Reeve's office." Drake said.

Grace nodded in agreement. The four made their way down the halls and to Reeve's office. When they got there, Sephiroth wasn't there anymore. Cloud had taken his place.

"Rose, it's good to see you recovered." he said.

"Thanks Cloud." She replied. She then turned to Grace and introduced everybody.

"Now that's done let's get down to business." Reeve said. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You're a man who likes to get things done. I like that." Grace said.

Vincent stole a glance at Rose and could tell that she was in thought about something and by her expression, she didn't like it.

"It seems that even though Nicolai is dead, the problem still remains." Grace said.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.

"Minerva." Rose said before Grace could answer. "She's continuing what Nicolai started."

"Yes." Grace said. "She's sent out vampires to create more so they'll be able to continue."

"Other clans, including Grace's, have already started to hunt down the ones Minerva has sent out." Drake said. "Those who resist are killed, those who surrender join in the clans that will take them and create a new life for themselves."

"So when Minerva runs out of vampires that don't return to her, she'll be forced to come out in the open." Cloud said.

"When she does, we'll have to be prepared for the worst." Grace said. "She has the piece of Jenova that was stolen from Shinra."

"Oh god." Rose muttered. She reached out a hand to the nearest wall to steady herself.

"We do know that she won't consume what she has until she realizes that she no longer has vampires to control or that she is cornered." Grace said. "We still have time to plan."

"And what happens if she consumes Jenova?" Cloud asked, concern evident in his voice.

Drake and Grace looked at each other before answering.

"We're not completely sure." Drake said.

"She'll either become powerful, or go mad." Grace said. "Judging from what we know about Jenova, and how she isn't easily controlled, we're assuming the latter will happen."

"Did you manage to find out where the hideout was?" Cloud asked.

"Quite literally under our noses." Rose muttered.

"Yeah." Drake said. "Under Midgar, in the old Deepground area."

"They didn't go down to far, but they were far enough below that they managed to remain under the radar." Grace said.

"The past just seems to keep on creeping up on us." Rose said.

"Don't worry about tomorrow until it's here." Grace said. "We'll get through it."

"That's right." Drake added then turned to Vincent. "If she hasn't had anything to eat, you should take her to the cafeteria. She's been asleep for almost two days, she needs nourishment."

Vincent nodded and coaxed Rose from the wall. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he led her out of the room.

"We'll stop her Rose." Vincent said, trying to assure her.

"I know...we have to stop her. If we don't..."

He stopped and turned her to face him. "Don't worry so much. We'll devise a plan and then go through with it. It'll be just like any other time. We just have to do it."

"You're right." She replied, gracing him with a small smile.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders again, and pulled her close as they continued to the cafeteria. They disengaged when they reached the cafeteria and entered it. The greeting that she got wasn't exactly what she had expected.

"Rose!" Marlene said as she ran to her and hugged her. "You're okay. You're really okay."

Rose was stunned for a moment before hugging Marlene back. "Yeah, I'm okay." She assured her.

"Could have come up with a better way to make us worry about you though." Cid said with a smile. "Good to see you back Rose."

"Thanks Cid." She replied. "It's good to be back with everybody."

"Rose…can I ask you something?" Denzel asked.

"What is it Denzel?"

He hesitated for a moment. "It's about what Nicolai said…"

Rose gently disengaged herself from Marlene's hug. "I would hope that you would forget about what he said… Just being a half vampire is hell and gaining control of yourself as a half vampire is even worse… I can't imagine how hard it is to gain control as a full fledged vampire." She gave a small sigh. "But not all vampires are like Nicolai, Denzel."

"I know that Rose. It's just that…" He looked her in the eye. "Promise me that you won't become a full vampire!"

Rose was taken a little aback by his sudden demand. "…I don't plan on becoming a full vampire Denzel. Not as long as I can help it."

After eating Rose had disappeared to the roof. She had spent her meal time catching up with Tifa, Barret, Cid, Denzel and Marlene. Mostly talking about what she had done in training and her fights for the past four months. Now that she had caught up with most of her friends she wanted to be alone for a while to digest the information she had been given earlier.

Shinra had lost a piece of Jenova. Minerva had that piece and planned on consuming it. By doing that she would gain power, but most likely lose her sanity in the process. When that happened, the worst could happen and she wanted to be as prepared for it as possible.

She sighed. Maybe she was trying to think too much on this. Maybe it would be better to stand back and see what happened… But then again, maybe they should try to attack her before she had a chance to consume Jenova.

"Rose?"

She turned and looked at Vincent. "Sorry I was just getting some fresh air."

He shook his head as he approached. "Don't be. It's a lot to take in." He approached her and gently pulled her into a hug. "Try not to worry."

"That's easier said than done." She replied as she wrapped her arms around him. She relaxed as she listened to his heart beat.

Vincent nuzzled the top of her head. "Rose…when this is done, let's get married."

Her breath hitched before gazing up at Vincent. "What?" she asked, not completely sure she had heard him correctly.

He gently pressed his forehead to hers. "Marry me?"

Her grip on him tightened as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Even after what she had become and after running off like she did, he was still willing to stay with her.

"Yes." She finally answered. "I love you too much to say no… I can't leave you again, and I won't leave you again."

"Rose."

"I promise you I won't leave you again." She said. "Since I was bitten, I won't change with time…like you."

His heart skipped a beat.

'_**That shouldn't surprise you. She is a half vampire now.**_'

He let out a small sigh. "I don't care about that Rose. We love each other and we're together again. That's all that matters."

He leaned down to kiss her and she turned away.

"I drank blood recently. I don't want you to have to taste that." She said.

He cupped her chin, making her look at him again. "I don't care."

He leaned down, capturing her lips with his. She gasped into the kiss, allowing Vincent's tongue to enter her mouth.

Rose's heart started pounding, heating her blood. A fire ignited within her. She hadn't felt this since November. The first time being at their date at the Gold Saucer on her birthday… Was this really the best time, now that the world seemed in a chaos over one vampire clan?

They parted, both panting due to lose of air. Vincent seemed to have the same thought process when he hesitated before nuzzling and kissing down her neck.

Rose gave a small moan when he did so, moving her head to the side to give him better access.

"I have needed to take a shower." She muttered as her hands slid down his arms to his hands. "Take one with me." She whispered in his ear.

Vincent let out a low growl in response before leaving the rooftop with her.

Chaos let out a low chuckle. '_**The showers… What humans won't come up with to hide the fact that their having sex.**_'

_A/N: And there's another chapter. Like I said earlier, the next chapter should be the last one before the epilogue. I can't help but be sad that this story is coming to an end, but at the same time I'm looking forward to posting the after story. That one is going to be a bit interesting. Stay tuned for the ending. Hopefully it'll be up soon._


	24. Tying Up Loose Ends

_And here is the last chapter. I'm sorry for disappearing again and not posting as soon as I wanted, but life got in the way again. I hope you enjoy the last chapter and please read the note at the end for news on the after story. There is no epilogue this time around. Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or the characters. I'm just borrowing them._

Chapter 23 Tying Up Loose Ends

Rose sighed as she watched the world fly by beneath her. They had received news that almost all of the vampires Minerva had sent out had been either caught or killed. They decided the best time to make their move was before Minerva could realize what was going on and consume what she had of Jenova.

Rose was glad that it was a small group of them going in. She had been able to convince Sephiroth to stay at the WRO for the sake of Aerith and their unborn son. She had convinced Barret to stay for Marlene, and Tifa to stay for Denzel and the orphans she and Cloud had taken in. Red was also staying at the WRO for some extra security. Cid was only going as far as dropping them off in the ruins of Midgar from the airship.

That left the group at Yuffie, Cloud, Cait Sith, Vincent, Drake and herself. She hoped that it would be enough to defeat Minerva and secure what she had of Jenova.

Rose's stomach did flip flops for another reason. Drake was no longer going to be teaching her. He believed that she was ready to face the world and take care of herself. There was nothing more he could teach her. He wasn't going to avoid her, however. He would still be around and she would be able to contact him, if she needed his guidance again.

That was something to think about later. Right now, she needed to focus for the upcoming battle.

Cid stopped and hovered his aircraft over the ruins of Midgar. "All of you had better come back in one piece."

"We intend to Cid." Vincent replied.

"Yeah! You can count on us." Yuffie added.

"We'll see you later Cid." Cloud said as they left the helm room.

The group watched as the airship took off, Cid wanting to park it away so attention wouldn't be drawn to the group.

"So I guess we make our way to the old Shinra building from here." Yuffie said.

"Yes, and exercise extreme caution." Drake said then turned to Rose. "Keep a mental ear out."

"And don't get too wrapped up in the thoughts. Got it." She replied. "Let's put an end to this."

"Will this really end this fight?" Yuffie wondered aloud.

"We'll be getting rid of the cancer that is causing the illness Yuffie. If stopping Minerva doesn't get rid of the problem, then we will be in trouble." Rose answered.

"One step at a time Yuffie. We'll worry about what to do next when the situation arises." Cait Sith added.

"Right." Yuffie replied. "Let's go."

They started to make their way to the Shinra building. Rose gazed up at it. It seemed to loom there, even in its decaying state. She actually started to wonder how much longer the thing would actually remain standing like it was.

A few minutes passed after her last thought when she stopped dead in her tracks. This caused everyone else to stop and look at her.

"You smell that, right?" she asked Drake who nodded.

She let out a sigh. Of course they would be here. Part of Jenova had been taken. It was their job to get it back.

"Come on out. We know you're here." Rose called out.

Rose sighed when nobody came out into the open immediately. She was about to call out again when Reno and Rude emerged from the debris from the ruins.

Reno couldn't help the grin that spread on his face. "So you are back. We were wondering why you ran off."

"Personal business you could say." Rose replied.

"Yeah, I would say it was personal." Reno said. "Reeve should tell his WRO soldiers to keep their mouth shut about rumors they don't know are true or not."

"So the president is going to terminate the freedom of speech when you aren't on the job?" Rose asked.

"Call it friendly advice." Rude replied.

"Now where's the bitch that stole Jenova?" Reno asked.

"Let us take care of her." Drake said. "You'll get it back if she didn't consume it."

"Sorry. We have our orders and we're obligated to follow through with them." Reno said.

"You don't know what you're getting into." Rose replied.

"We have a pretty good idea." Reno said.

"Alright." Rose said. She took off her coat and started to remove the blades she had hidden on her person.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Yuffie asked as she watched her.

"I don't want to accidentally kill anybody." Rose answered. She finished removing all her weapons, save her double bladed katana and stepped forward. "Try your luck."

"We'll be glad to." Reno replied with a smile.

"You'll be the first human I've fought in a few months." Rose said. "Don't hold back."

They stood there, seeming to size each other up. Reno tensed for a second as he got ready for his first attack. He charged at her, his rod at the ready. He would show her just what the Turks could do.

He didn't understand how it could happen. She had caught the rod between the two blades of her katana and sent it flying. She then grabbed him by the front and threw him away from her.

"Sloppy." She said as he landed. "If you don't conceal, you won't be able to touch her."

Reno looked to his partner, expecting him to do something. All Rude did was shake his head at him. Reno growled at the meaning. He picked the fight, he was on his own.

He stood up again and she shook her head at him. He started to slowly walk around her, sizing her up. She kept facing him and let out a small sigh.

"Attack of opportunity. Good luck with that." She said.

"You don't know what kind though." He replied as he charged at her again.

She dodged him easily, then back handed him hard enough to knock him to the ground.

"You don't know how to conceal your muscle movements. Until you're able to do that, you won't stand a chance against a vampire up close and personal like this. You're muscles tell me exactly what you're going to do before you even do it." She said. "It's a helpful technique when we're out hunting."

He simply sat there on the ground glaring at her. She gave a half smile in return.

"That's what I thought." She said as she turned and walked away from him.

"So tell me, where did you learn to read muscles?" Reno asked as he retrieved his rod.

"Well for one I had a great teacher." Rose answered as she retrieved her coat and blades. "Two, I guess you could say it became a natural gift."

"Natural gift?" Rude asked.

Rose sighed as she reached up to pull her hair back.

"Rose don't!" Yuffie said but it was too late.

Rose stood there with her hair away from her neck, revealing the bite. "I didn't fully turn, but I do possess quite a few qualities of a full vampire." She said then let down her hair and looked at Yuffie. "Shinra was going to find out sooner or later anyway."

"So that's why you took off, to hide the fact that you changed." Elena said as she appeared from the rubble.

"I was starting to wonder when you were going to show yourself." Rose said.

"Answer the question." Elena demanded.

"It wasn't a question to begin with." Rose retorted. "You shouldn't even be here."

"I have my orders. And I think new ones will be coming very soon after the president hears about this." Elena said.

"You'll have to get through us first." Yuffie snapped.

"You have no idea how much danger you're putting yourself and everybody else in by being here." Rose said.

"I'm sure my coworkers and I will be fine." She snapped before turning to walk away.

"Not with the way you're bleeding." Rose called after her, making Elena stop dead in her tracks.

Reno and Rude gave Rose a confused look before looking Elena up and down.

"What the hell are you talking about? She's not even cut." Reno said.

"Not that kind of bleeding." Rose said.

Elena turned to her, her face a little red. "You can tell that?"

"I can smell it." Rose answered. "It was you I smelled before we ran into Reno and Rude and you had to have been a ways away before getting here. You'll only attract unwanted attention to yourself."

"We can take care of ourselves." Elena tried to reason. "There's no reason for you to worry about us."

"So, there is a whole pack of rats here." A voice said, interrupting the conversation.

The group's attention turned to the ruins. Minerva straightened on her perch and stretched her newly acquired wings.

Rose's heart sped up as she realized what Minerva had done. The worst fear had been realized.

Minerva let out a low chuckle. 'And here I thought you were too stupid to get scared Rose.'

Rose narrowed her eyes at her. She knew Minerva had figured out her secret and let her know that.

Minerva returned the glare before sliding her eyes to Vincent. Rose was able to get to him in time to push him out of the way, before Minerva could snatch him, flying off towards the Shinra building with her.

'Chaos.'

He didn't have to be told twice as Vincent went after them at a run. Wings sprouted as he took Chaos's form and flew off after the two.

"Vincent!" Yuffie called after him.

"Yelling at him isn't going to do any good Yuffie." Cloud said.

"Let's move!" Drake called after them, already taking off towards the building at a run.

"It may be a good idea to let them take care of this one." Reno said.

"Agreed." Rude replied.

Minerva continued to fly with Rose in tow to the Shinra building. She flew in an opening at high speed and released Rose, sending her flying into the opposite wall.

"This wasn't the plan, but I guess this will do now that you're here and out of the way."

Minerva turned and started to make her way back out the way she came in. Rose quickly unsheathed a knife and threw it at her, making it go through her left wing.

"You will not touch him." She growled, throwing a throwing star through her other wing.

Minerva growled as she removed the blades from her wings. Rose quickly casted a lightening bolt at her while she was busy. She realized she missed her when she saw Minerva diving down at her. She dodged her easily, causing Minerva to punch at the floor instead, causing it to give way and collapse.

Rose couldn't get to her feet in time to make a better landing and ended up on her back on the floor below, the wind knocked out of her.

Chaos had just entered the building, surveying the floor he had entered. He didn't find a trace of either Minerva or Rose. His attention was drawn to the floors below him when he heard a crash. Already fearing the worse, he made his way down.

Minerva lunged at Rose. She was barely able to make it to her feet and draw her katana in time to block the attack.

"Do you even realize what you did when you killed him?" Minerva growled as she pushed against the blades of the katana.

"He was destroying the planet. It is for everyone's own good that he's gone, including you." Rose replied.

"My own good?!" she yelled. "I've had nothing but hell since you killed him."

Realization hit Rose then. "He was foolish to not have seen your love for him."

Minerva wrapped her hands around the blades, crushing them in her anger. All Rose could do was watch as they shattered between her and Minerva.

Rose didn't have time to think or act when Minerva grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up.

"I really wanted to make you suffer the same way you made me suffer, but I guess I'll just have to make him suffer instead." She growled before throwing Rose into the wall.

Rose let out a cry of pain as she hit something. She looked down to see a steel pipe jutting out of her. She gripped it, trying to keep some of her weight off it. She couldn't get a good grip due to how much blood she was losing.

"I will greatly enjoy seeing the pain on his face and the anger of his hunt when he comes after me." Minerva said as she approached her. "I'll be sure to kill him slowly before finally draining him."

She raised a hand, intending to finish Rose off when a gun shot rang through the air. Minerva's look seemed to fall from her face before she collapsed on the floor in front of Rose.

Rose raised her eyes from Minerva fallen form to see Chaos for the first time.

He started to approach her, slowly, as if he was afraid of scaring her. He picked up the pace when she held a hand out to him.

"Help me get off this thing." She grunted.

He took her hand before wrapping his other arm around her shoulder and pulled her off. Her legs gave out instantly and she started to cough, blood coming from her mouth.

Knowing she was in trouble and that Drake would be the only one to really tell if she was going to be alright or not, Chaos gathered Rose into his arms before flying out of the building.

The rest of the group was quickly approaching the building when they stopped because of some of it falling from the rest of the building to the ground.

"You don't think that they were…?" Yuffie couldn't finish her question.

"No. That's them right there." Drake said, pointing out Chaos who was flying towards them.

"What about Minerva?" Cloud asked. "Can you pick up anything on her?"

"No." he answered. "Her thoughts stopped almost instantly. Something happened and she isn't alive anymore."

"Good. That's one less thing to worry about." Yuffie said.

Chaos landed and Vincent returned, carrying Rose in his arms. "We need to get her to the WRO and quickly." He said as he approached the group.

"What happened?" Drake asked, as he met Vincent half way to assess the damage that Rose had taken.

"A pipe through her torso." Vincent answered as he lowered her to the ground so Drake could see the damage.

Cloud was instantly on the phone with Cid, telling him to get the airship over to the Shinra building.

"Leanne's been alerted. She'll be ready." Cait Sith informed the group.

"What do we do? Use cure?" Yuffie asked.

"That'll only work so much until her body gets used to it and adapts." Drake answered as he tried to stop any bleeding he could.

Rose coughed again, more blood coming from her mouth.

"Stay with us Rose." Drake ordered. He grabbed her canteen then tilted her head back enough so the blood would go down her throat more easily. "This is all we can do until we can get her better help."

Vincent nodded at him before turning his attention back to Rose. He prayed that she would pull through this and that she would be alright.

"It looks like the pipe scraped the bottom of her heart when she was pulled off it. I honestly don't know if she'll heal from it." Leanne told Vincent and Drake after putting Rose on an IV for blood and heart monitor.

"If she was a full vampire I would say her chances were very slim. Since she is only half, she has a better chance." Drake said. "The fact that her heart is still beating gives me a lot of hope for her."

Vincent took a deep breath. "How long do you think till she wakes up?" he asked.

"That's up to her Vincent." Leanne answered. "You can go in and be with her."

Vincent quickly disappeared through the door.

Leanne turned to Drake. "Is there anything more that I can do?"

"Keep monitoring her and keep the blood flowing for her. The blood will help her to heal." Drake answered. "Rest, blood and monitoring her is all you can do. The rest is up to her."

Cloud, Sephiroth and Yuffie made their way down the hall towards the two.

"How is she?" Yuffie asked.

"Stable." Leanne answered.

"Will she wake up?" Sephiroth asked.

"Only time will tell." Drake answered.

Cloud let out a small sigh. "So, what do we do now?"

"The major problem has been taken care of. Grace and I will take care of the rest." Drake answered.

"You're leaving?" Yuffie asked. "How can you just up and leave like this?"

"We don't want the rest of Nicolai's clan to try and continue what he started." Drake answered. "I will come by when I can, I'll keep you posted on how things are going and I ask that I be kept up on her condition. I hope that I'll be able to come back soon."

"I can keep you posted." Leanne said.

"I appreciate that." He replied.

*One Month Later*

"Vincent, I really wish you would sleep in the spare bed in here instead of that chair." Leanne said as she started her usual check up on Rose.

"I want to be there when she wakes up." He said.

"You will be there." She tried to assure him.

Vincent continued to keep his attention on Rose as Leanne checked her stats, IVs and heart monitor.

"How does everything look?" he asked when she finished.

"Great. She's healed very well. We just have to wait for her to wake up." She answered as she wrote in her clipboard.

He nodded before turning back to Rose. He gently took her hand and started to rub his thumb over the back of her hand.

His breath caught in his throat when her hand started to squeeze his. He stood up when her eyes fluttered open and confusingly took in her surroundings. Her eyes moved over to Vincent when he gently called to her.

"Vincent." Her mouth moved, but her voice was lost.

"You've been out for a long time Rose. It might take a little time to get your voice back." Leanne said as she started to check her over again.

"How long?" she asked, managing a whisper.

"A month." Vincent answered.

Confusion took over her features again as she tried to process how she could have been out for that long.

"You're body went into a bit of an overdrive to heal itself. You're heart had been damaged when you were pulled off the pole, but you healed wonderfully. Even though you were healed you went into a bit of a hibernation as Drake explained and rested until you're body was ready to wake up." Leanne explained.

Rose nodded, letting her know that she understood what had been explained to her.

"What we're going to do now Rose is get you some ice chips for you to suck on to get your throat lubricated so you can work on getting your voice back. We'll also start you on liquid food and work you back up to solid food. While we're doing that we'll get you started on getting your strength back so you will be able to go home." Leanne said.

Rose nodded again, letting her know she had understood. Leanne left to get her the ice chips.

"You're going to make a full recovery Rose. You're going to be fine." Vincent said once they were left alone.

"I'm sorry for worrying you." She managed to whisper.

"I'm the one who should apologize. I wasn't there to protect you."

She shook her head. The look in her eyes told him that he shouldn't blame himself.

"I am to blame." He insisted.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No." she whispered then looked up at him. "You're not."

He gave in and stopped blaming himself. He leaned down and kissed her forehead before sitting down in the chair again. "I'm so glad you're awake now."

She gave him a small smile as she gave his hand another squeeze.

Rose remained at the WRO long enough to regain her voice and her ability to eat solid foods again. She refused to stay there as she worked on regaining her strength but did go back for rehabilitation sessions. Time was all she needed to return back to normal.

Drake visited her often until he left to let her face the world herself. She was relieved to hear from him that the problem Nicolai had started had been resolved.

It had taken Dixie some time to get used to Rose's new vampire ability and to not feel like prey to her. She soon felt comfortable around her again and was acting towards her just like she did when they first met.

Rose was happy to finally have made a full recovery. She was able to return to her life more normally, return to work at the WRO and also start planning a future with Vincent.

_A/N: And that's the end for Valentine's Rose. Thank you for sticking around for this even though it took me a lot longer than planned to write this. I do have the after story to this one started. I just have some editing to do and I'll start releasing what I have done. The title is Rose Petals so be sure to keep an eye out for it. I hope you enjoyed Valentine's Rose, I enjoyed writing it and thanks for reading it._


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